Reflecting On the Deeper Messages of New Film 'Promising Young Woman'

When I first saw the trailer for Promising Young Woman, it instantly lured me in. A film focusing on the relevant topic of assault, but framing it in a badass, revenge driven, and female empowering lens sounded right up my alley. Plus, anything produced by Margot Robbie must be good, right? Originally set to premiere in theaters in April, the date was pushed back until Christmas of 2020. And this movie was worth the wait. Though the dark comedy psychological thriller should’ve come with a multitude of trigger warnings, these more-than-uncomfortable scenes are what made it immensely impactful. 

I have always thought the best movies are the ones you cannot keep yourself from thinking about even days after watching them, clouding every thought. This inescapable feeling stuck with me after watching Slumdog Millionaire, Moonlight, and Crash—award-winning uncomfortable films. While not particularly relatable to my own life, these movies were all painful to watch and left me with empathic pain, which lasted long after the credits closed. Promising Young Woman is a different kind of movie that left me hurting in a unique way. 

(Spoilers Ahead)

Promising Young Woman tells the story of Cassie (played by Carey Mulligan), who previously embodied the title of this film. Cassie was once a motivated medical school student, but her ambitious life is derailed when her best friend in med school is unconsciously raped with a room full of male medical students and peers. Men cheered on the rapist and made a party out of a tragedy. 

We learn that the victim, Nina, likely killed herself after dropping out of school due to the trauma she faced. This was made worse by the fact that nearly no one acknowledged what had happened, or believed her. This storyline is doubly horrifying when we later find out that a video of the assault was passed around via text. As the only friend who stood by her, Cassie sets out to scare men out of taking advantage of drunk women. 

For years, she spends her free time going to bars and pretending to be drunk to the point of passing out. We watch again and again as men take her home, and begin to take advantage of her in many disturbing ways. Each time, she snaps out of her drunken role and these men are scared out of their skin, solidifying her goal of scaring predators away from preying on inebriated women. The story continues to unfold as we learn more about Nina, and those who enabled her attacker to escape her accusations unscathed. 

The deeper aim of Promising Young Woman works to reveal the systemic ways young men’s reputations are protected, and young women’s trauma is neglected. This title is a play on the frequent reaction towards young men accused of rape. They are written off as “promising young men” whose careers and futures should not be stained by this one “mistake.” 

The film works through an abstract storyline to show the continuous reality for young women who are assaulted and subsequently blamed for the attack. Mulligan’s character is dressed in modest business apparel in the first scene where she faces an attempted rape. In a later scene, her makeup is smeared all over her face and she looks a mess—yet, a man still takes her home and tries to wake her up with drugs to score with her. This works to prove the point that it doesn’t matter what a woman is wearing, or what she looks like, and this cannot be to blame for her assault. Rapists continue to attack women regardless of if they are clothed in a scandalous or conservative fashion. This film hits close to home for women everywhere, but felt especially impactful watching through the eyes of a young woman living on a college campus. 

As the credits rolled, my friends and I looked around the room, all clearly processing what we had just watched. We sat around for over an hour, speaking about how we could start a dialogue with our boyfriends and guy friends about assault, consent, and having sex while under the influence of alcohol or other drugs. It is important to have these conversations, especially on college campuses. This film made me wonder why we do not all go through more serious bystander training and in depth education on consent. 

There is much work to be done by colleges across the country, as well as law enforcement. North Carolina alone has 14,000-15,000 untested rape kits, sitting in storage. The reality and regularity of sexual assault against women must be taken seriously. According to the CDC, “Nearly 1 in 5 women have experienced completed or attempted rape during her lifetime.” This is all of our problem, and one of the most foundational places to start to address this atrocity is right in our backyard, on college campuses nationwide. 

Promising Young Woman’s lasting impression has not gone unnoticed by film critics. Though it was released for the public just last month, it has already scored a slew of Golden Globe nominations. Emerald Fennell’s film was nominated for Best Motion Picture-Drama, Best Actress-Motion Picture Drama, Best Director, and Best Screenplay. These are prestigious awards, indicating that the film may also be nominated for Academy Awards later this year. The 2018’s Oscar Ceremony shined a spotlight on #MeToo, and three years later this topic has only progressed and become a more commonplace theme. I think acknowledging this longtime societal issue is an important step forward, especially giving women a platform and a voice to tell their story.