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Promising Young Woman

Posted on April 10, 2021April 17, 2021 by Village Vidiot

  “Promising Young Woman,” April 10, 2021 (2020), DVD.  Nominated for Best Picture.  I’m not a big one for thrillers; I mostly don’t enjoy the stress they induce.  This, however, is a very interesting film, and I would recommend it.  It is the first feature from actress Emerald Fennel (“The Crown” and “Call the Midwife.”)  Cassie (Carey Mulligan) is a former med school student who left school and returned home following her best friend’s horrible experience of a drunken rape and its aftermath.  Living at home, she’s a bored and snarky barista by day but an avenging angel by night, scouring clubs for predators who prey on intoxicated women.   She meets an MD (Bo Burnham) at the coffee shop who is seemingly not like these other guys; that is to say, he is not a predator.  But she also learns that the perpetrator of the assault is about to marry.  This sends her into action focusing more directly on those connected to the original experience and its resolution.  Mulligan is really excellent and Fennel uses a collection of comedians in many of the darker roles for a reason.  The film attempts to show the world of grey in what is usually framed as he said-she said situations. They are societal issues as well as individual, as people attempt to get on with their lives, either by denying or just struggling through their days.  Still, Cassie’s obsession with the quest for resolution and ‘justice’ tilts the balance of grey deeper into black and white  Even so, the film encourages thoughtful and, not necessarily pleasant, introspection about these very real issues of power and consent in our society.

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