I, like many of you probably reading this, was so excited when I saw the trailer for Promising Young Woman. I was thinking “finally, a movie about a badass woman getting revenge on horrible men who try to rape”. However, when I watched the movie I was honestly disappointed. The acting in the movie was phenomenal and the cinematography was amazing. I loved Carey Mulligan as the main character, Cassandra. She was perfect for the role. However, the trailer was very misleading and the movie can be triggering to people who have experienced sexual assault or rape.
The movie follows Cassandra who dropped out of medical school because her best friend, Nina, committed suicide after being raped by a fellow medical student. Cassandra goes to bars and pretends she is extremely drunk. When men come over to her and try to take her home with them, she continues her act and plays along. When the men try to assault her she reveals she is sober, calls them out, and leaves. While she is doing this, she goes through the people who she blamed for Nina’s suicide. These people included a woman who victim-blamed her friend, the lawyer who defended the rapist, and the medical school’s dean who also victim-blamed.
When I watched the trailer, I thought this would be a movie that empowers women and illustrates revenge against men who are predators. Unfortunately, the men in the movie who attempt to assault Cassandra while she is acting drunk never face any consequences. I believe, and many others who I talked to believe, the trailer portrays Cassandra as a serial killer who kills men that are rapists. This is not the case at all in this movie. She simply lets the men go after they attempt to assault her. I, of course, do not condone killing anyone, but the trailer is misleading in this aspect because I thought it would be a fantasized story about a woman getting revenge against the men who think it is okay to have sex with intoxicated women. Instead, she lets these men go without any consequences which could lead to them doing this to another woman who is actually drunk.
Another reason I felt this movie did not sit right with me was one particular scene where Cassandra meets up with a former friend, Madison, from medical school. Madison victim-blamed Nina when she was raped and told everyone that she was lying and drunk. In this scene, Cassandra goes to lunch with Madison and pretends to drink with her. Cassandra remains sober, while Madison becomes drunk. Cassandra then pays a man to take Madison to a hotel room and set up a scene that made it look like this man raped Madison. Anyone who blames a rape victim for their rape is a horrible person, but to go and get revenge on this person by making them believe they were raped also makes you a horrible person. I don’t think this scene was necessary and it expresses the idea that it is okay to get this type of revenge. It also does not paint women in a good light. Women should never take this kind of revenge against another woman. Cassandra saw what this harm did to Nina, and to go do the same thing to another woman is disgraceful.
I would advise anyone who is triggered by sexual assault and rape to stay away from this movie. This movie is not about “sticking to the man” and justice. It is about what, sadly, happens a lot in the real world, where men can rape women and never see any jail time or retribution. There are many scenes in the movie where men are sexually assaulting or about to sexually assault a woman. This is hard to watch for many people who have experienced an event similar to this. The movie has an extremely sad and unsatisfying ending, which I will not spoil, so anyone who is thinking about watching Promising Young Woman may want to rethink it before they watch.