From the moment I first saw The Bride seek bloody vengeance against the cult of assassins who betrayed her in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill, Uma Thurman’s yellow-jumpsuited slayer has been burned in my brain. That character has become an avatar for the specific anger that belongs to women and our collective quest for justice. One rewatch is a satisfying salve, a legal substitute for butchering the men who’ve wronged me, my friends or any victims of abuse whose names are splashed across news headlines since as far back as I can remember — even as the men get away with it all ’cause of, you know, the patriarchy.
There’s a similar sort of energy to Cassie Thomas, the younger, less predictable vigilante at the center of Promising Young Woman. She swaps school-bus yellow for a disarming pastel pink, but otherwise, her drive and intentions are much like those of The Bride, right down to the notebooks where they keep their body counts.
Cassie, however, is a touch more creative. Her method isn’t murder, but rather simple, ice-cold confrontation. Why? Because back when Cassie was in med school, her best friend Nina was raped. In the aftermath, Cassie dropped out of school to care for her. But as time goes on and wounds fester, her rage only grows. Now, by day, she serves coffee at a cafe. By night, she tricks greasy douchebags into believing she’s blackout drunk. This way, once they take her home in an attempt to take advantage of her, she can reveal the sobering truth — exposing them for committing a crime they’re not even convinced they’re guilty of. The shame she induces in these extremely realistic culprits feels visceral — it’s on par with The Bride slicing through bodies with her katana.
Cassie effortlessly conquers these creeps one after another, though her anger is never even mildly sated. It isn’t hard for her to find these types of men, and repeatedly facing them is a painful indicator that they exist everywhere. It helps, too, that the actors playing these would-be rapists are all known for having portrayed innocent best-friend types in the past — Adam Brody (The O.C.), Chris Lowell (Veronica Mars), Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Superbad), Sam Richardson (Veep), Max Greenfield (Veronica Mars, New Girl). Even Alison Brie, who plays a mean girl from Cassie’s past, goes against type here. It’s a reminder that women can play a part in rape culture too, by excusing what we know to be true because “he was always nice to me.”
In another clever bit of casting, Carey Mulligan — not often seen in thrillers or genre films — plays Cassie. It’s tough to look away from her, and not question what’s beneath each coy smile. It’s no secret Mulligan is good at what she does, but here, she is newly revelatory, nailing every beat of a film that defies genre.
And that, of course, is by design. On the surface, Promising Young Woman seems like a comedy. But as it progresses, it offers touches of Heathers-esque black comedy. (Keep an eye out for a wonderful montage set to Paris Hilton’s underrated single “Stars Are Blind.”) Later, perhaps it’s a straight revenge thriller. Cassie — with her rainbow manicure, doe eyes, dimples, ribboned tresses and affinity for pastels — couldn’t possibly bite. But, of course, she does much more than that. Promising Young Woman, then, unabashedly offers the bitch-in-sheep’s-clothing trope. In its intentionality, it works.
The film’s director and writer, Emerald Fennell, is currently playing Camilla Parker Bowles in The Crown, and her cunning in that role is comparable to Mulligan’s here. She also wrote and produced the second season of the delectable Killing Eve, earning two Emmy nominations. She also writes horror novels. With this film, she proves to have mastered a genre of her own making: feminist thrillers, with a sexy edge.
The movie, by the way, is unforgiving in the way life sometimes is. This is a land where happy endings don’t live, and it isn’t always easy to watch. I found myself sitting in silence as the credits rolled, processing the film and its gut-punch of a climax. For those watching who are victims of sexual assault, it might cut especially deep. But it also takes aim at the “nice guys” who never are what they insist they are, and who profit from and perpetuate rape culture. A snake in the grass, much like its beguiling antihero, Promising Young Woman is necessarily disturbing in its efforts to teach us all a lesson.
One of those lessons arrives when a target of Cassie’s proclaims, “Every man’s worst nightmare is to get accused.” She responds, “Can you guess what every woman’s worst nightmare is?”
