Review of Promising Young Woman (2020) by Theredsky — 04 Jan 2021

This was an excellent film that I didn’t expect to be this good. It’s insane that this is a directoral debut for Emerald Fennell because her direction is fantastic. Every shot and character is so incredibly well planned and thought it.

I’m very excited to see what this director is capable of in the future. Carey Mulligan is incredible as the main character. It’s easily one of my favorite performances of the entire year. Her reactions and how she delivers her lines is fantastic and I’m excited to see what she does with her career after this.

Every performance here is great to be honest. I always feel skeptical when they cast comedians in films that are supposed to be dramatic but Bo Burnham killed it here. It goes to show that anyone can do an amazing job given the right material.

This has some of the best framing and cinematography of the year. Each shot is visually pleasing in how it’s framed and each shot knows what needs to be in it. Every shot felt to me like it was intentional in what it wanted to show.

In other words, there was a certain aesthetic to the film that worked very well for the tone. The story of the film is powerful, emotional, well thought out, and relevant. The film has a lot to say about rape and sexual assault and How authority figures act on it without being overbearing or too on the nose but it can feel like that at points.

The last 45 minutes of this film is just gut punch after gut punch and it’s great. The film does a great job at making you feel for Mulligan’s character. While some may find the ending a little over the top and dumb, I didn’t.

I thought the ending made logical sense and it was a huge pump in the fist for the main character as I was starting to root for her. I would highly recommend checking this out if you are okay with the dark subject matter.