Avenger’s endgame
CAREY MULLIGAN PUTS IN A FEARLESS PERFORMANCE AS THE GUILT-RIDDEN FRIEND OF A SEXUAL ASSAULT VICTIM WHO IS DETERMINED TO GET JUSTICE
PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN (15)
OSCAR-NOMINATED writer-director and now Bafta winner Emerald Fennell sharpens her claws with a provocative thriller that draws blood from the efforts of an avenging angel (Carey Mulligan) to dole out the justice denied to her best friend in the aftermath of a sexual assault. Promising Young Woman, winner of Best British Film and Best Original Screenplay at Sunday’s Baftas, strikes a sickening chord, culminating in arguably the most harrowing scene of the year – a bachelor party underscored by a deliciously discordant orchestral arrangement of Britney Spears’ Toxic. The film’s twisted sense of humour is as dark as the war-paint mascara that Mulligan etches around her bloodshot eyes to complement deliberately smeared lipstick and affect the dishevelled disposition of a drunk woman unable to protect herself from lascivious predators who believe she is “just asking for it”.
Tally scores and men’s names, scrawled in red biro in a notebook, intimate a dark and intriguing facet, which Fennell chooses to keep off screen.
By omitting one side of a complex story, it is easier to pull off her jawdropping coup de grace. However, the imbalance is a persistent niggle. Like the ferociously intelligent and driven central character, who drops out of medical school when her life implodes, Promising Young Woman exercises restraint and holds itself back when I wish it would go for broke. Cassie Thomas (Mulligan) abandons dreams of studying medicine at Forrest University when her best friend Nina is raped by classmate Al Monroe (Chris Lowell) and the dean (Connie Britton) chooses to believe his version of events.
Now 30 and still living at home with her parents, Cassie is haunted by the past, unable to forgive herself for not being at the party to protect Nina. A chance encounter with university classmate Ryan Cooper (Bo Burnham), now a paediatric doctor, rubs fresh salt into unhealed wounds and sets Cassie on a collision course with Al’s conspirators including his lawyer (Alfred Molina). Promising Young Woman chooses its polished words with care, burning off extraneous dramatic fat to retain a laser-like focus on Cassie as she boards her runaway train fuelled by guilt. Oscar-nominated Mulligan is utterly fearless, expertly removing the various masks Cassie wears to protect herself. Fennell’s measured assurance behind the camera gives us the courage to stare unflinchingly into the abyss, as Cassie makes the perilous descent, transfixed on eye-catching multi-coloured fingernails as they cling on for dear life, hoping to defy gravity and repair what is, sadly, beyond saving.
■ On Sky Cinema from Friday