Promising Young Woman

 

"Sometimes gentlemen are the worst"

The film starts from this premise, wants to reverse the roles and show that any man could become a sexual offender / predator if the opportunity presents itself. Emerald Fennell (I only knew her from her role as Camilla on The crown) did a great job of casting. In the roles of molesters we find mostly well-known faces of the silver screen who have earned the reputation of good guys like Adam Brody (Seth Cohen of The OC), or Max Greenfield and Chris Lowell (both nice boyfriends of Veronica Mars). But not only the male parts, even the female ones have been carefully chosen starting with Connie Britton, the usual figure who inspires confidence; then we have Jennifer Coolidge, for years most of the roles she played were the parody of Stifler's mother, here instead we find her in the role of a mother concerned about her daughter's future; and finally the protagonist, Cassie, Carey Mulligan, here in an unprecedented role, apparently harmless, sexy and confident when facing potential predators, but at the same time vulnerable and disappointed by almost all the men in her life.

An important part of the film is also the soundtrack, there are many pop songs, even some questionable choices like the silly song Stars are blind by Paris Hilton, but it is a good choice because it manages to lighten the tone of the film and be in tune with the mood of Cassie in that given moment. Or when the instrumental cover of Toxic by Britney Spears with eerie sounds (it almost reminds me of the Psycho theme song) anticipates the terrifying ending with Cassie, which reminds me the figure of Little Red Riding Hood who goes into the woods towards the house of the wolf, but aware of the consequences she could face. The ending is unexpected, it is a bitter sweet revenge, almost poetic, is as cruel as real life ...

The pièce de résistance is certainly the script, which never disappoints, sometimes is funny, even provocative and never bland. All this crowned by a majestic performance by Carey Mulligan and a noteworthy direction by Emerald Fennell.

The movie makes you wonder if Cassie is just a victim who failed to recover from her friend's death and became a revenge addict or is she a heroine, a woman fed up with man always getting away with their so-called "juvenile stunts", a heroine we need to avenge all the women who were ever humiliated, harassed or abused.