Promising Young Woman

Promising Young Woman is uncomfortable. It wants to be. It's jab after jab at the predatory culture we've allowed to happen, in which "nice guys" can take advantage of girls who may not be sober enough to "deny consent." But it's a left hook at the institutions that have empowered these promising young men to act with impunity, and it's an uppercut to our expectations. 

I watched the blooming romance between Bo Burnham and Carey Mulligan and thought, oh that's nice, it's turning into a rom com. There was always going to be renewed conflict in which Mulligan's Cassie gets pulled back into her dark pursuit of vigilante justice for her friend who killed herself after being raped in med school. 

But the movie's climactic scene doesn't play out like I'm anticipating. Cassie, dressed like a mid-century nurse (interesting commentary there) has her friend's assailant handcuffed to the bed at his bachelor party. She is about to carve Nina's name into his body so he never forgets her. He pulls free of one of the cuffs and manages to hold her down. He smothers her with a pillow and begins to suffocate her. It's a terrifically uncomfortable scene, but I expected reprieve. Where is Dr. Bo Burnham? He knows where the bachelor party is. He cares about Cassie, right? He'll intervene? 

No. She dies. There is no heroic rescue, because men are not heroes in this film. The closest thing to a heroic man is the lawyer who weeps in Cassie's lap and is effectively Mr, Kurtzing the horror about his awful career protecting young men accused of sexual assault. 

And in reflection, I have to look back at Carey Mulligan's performance. She is one of the most interesting protagonists I've come across. Everyone wants her to move on, to enter a new chapter of her life. And she tries. She is not so hard-headed as to not even try to admit a guy like Burnham's character could make her happy. 

But she doesn't do what we want her to. The movie would be weak, almost pointless, if she did. She becomes a martyr. And she makes us wonder how many more martyrs there will need to be before young men accused of sexual assault are guilty until proven innocent.

Comments

  1. acarverFebruary 21, 2021 at 1:22 PM

    I don't think the movie's necessarily recommending guilty until proven innocent. Nina's rape was at a party, seen by countless witnesses, and even recorded on video. I think the point is that society doesn't take these claims seriously, doesn't look into them at all, because we've already collectively accepted the actions of "promising young men." We've determined that an honest investigation, and legitimate consequences, are a bridge too far.

    Thanks for the post!

    ReplyDelete

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