The Controversial Ending of Promising Young Woman
by the messy optimist
Tis the season of Oscars-are-just-round-the-corner – So Ima going to be writing about the movies I watch – movies that look like they’ll make the Oscar shortlist.
I started with Promising Young Woman. Let’s get the main stuff out of the way. If the movie is getting the accolades it’s getting – IT DESERVES IT. This was one of the coolest, funnest, most thought-provoking films I’ve seen in a very long time. The category of the film is Feminist Revenge – and guess what? It is.
See…this is what happens when a WOMAN directs a movie about what it means to be a woman in today’s world and how it feels to be a single woman in this world. Getting away from the expectations of what and how a modern young woman should do and be and act like, getting away from the male gaze of a male director who often means well but is almost always waaaaay off the mark when it comes to portraying women – PHEW! It was such an incredible relief to watch a modern woman’s story told by a modern woman herself.
And NO.
I’m not saying that only women can make women films or only a POC can make POC films. All I’m saying is that it would be nice to have women make films about the woman experience as much as men get a chance to make films – repeatedly – about men AND women. Let’s at least try and attempt to level the playing field.
I also found myself at ease watching what happened to Carey Mulligan’s Cassie because I knew that the director – Emerald Fennell – would, at least, have the empathy needed to portray a character who on the face of it epitomizes 2021’s version of a so-called ‘slut.’ Cassie goes out at night, she drinks until she passes out in bars, she is prime target for all types of male assholes – the good ones, the oily ones, the jerks, the jocks, the wimps – all of whom justify their predatory behavior when they try to take her home and then try to rape her because – well – she WAS ALONE in a bar, she WAS DRINKING like a fish. Therefore, it was ALWAYS HER FAULT and that SHE ASKED FOR IT.
Even as I checked off each and every one of these fairly cliched portrayal of ‘the modern woman’ in films – I felt comforted knowing that this behavior of Carey Mulligan’s Cassie was going to lead somewhere because it was directed by a woman.
AND YES. That FUCKING MATTERS.
And I was gratified to note that the movie was SO MUCH MORE than Carssie getting drunk repeatedly in bars. She had a reason. There was purpose. And without giving away everything…when the final denouement comes – there is such a feeling of satisfaction for the audience. Bad shit happens to Cassie. Like real, life-changing shit happens to Cassie.
But…
BUT…
But…no. Watch the movie yourself and find out!
Just FYI – I read the following interview of director Fennell about the ending of Promising Young Woman. Read that first before you move on with the rest of my post.
So – originally, Emerald wanted a lot bleaker of an ending. And I agreed with her. In real life – the movie would’ve ended where the director said she wanted it to.
Was that bleak AF? Yes.
But THAT IS HOW life would’ve treated Carey’s character.
But Emerald’s financiers wanted a more upbeat ending. And I have to be totally honest here. As an audience member, was it gratifying AF when the events of the movie unfurl the way they did? Abso-fucking-lutely. But the entire time I told myself that this would never actually happen in real life. So yeah…the bleak ending would’ve been more realistic. BUT the way the movie ends now fills your feminist heart with so much happiness.
WATCH IT.
