Once territory largely owned by men, the revenge movie has been renewed in the wake of #MeToo by vengeance-seeking women against their predatory attackers. One need look no further than Hustlers, or on a more gruesome level The Nightingale, as just two examples of the genre’s timely resurgence. Well, the upcoming film Promising Young Woman takes that idea and ramps it up to the next degree, led by what appears to be a killer performance by Oscar nominee Carey Mulligan.
Directed by Emerald Fennell (Killing Eve) in her directorial debut, and produced by none other than Margot Robbie, Promising Young Woman doesn’t have a difficult premise to grasp. Mulligan plays Cassie, a traumatized woman who looks to set things right against any man who unfortunately gets in her way. And judging by the look of things, she’s going to go nuts in doing so, daresay almost Harley Quinn-esque in her approach.
SYNOPSIS: From visionary director Emerald Fennell comes a delicious new take on revenge. Everyone said Cassie (Carey Mulligan) was a promising young woman… until a mysterious event abruptly derailed her future. But nothing in Cassie’s life is what it appears to be: she’s wickedly smart, tantalizingly cunning, and she’s living a secret double life by night. Now, an unexpected encounter is about to give Cassie a chance to right the wrongs of the past in this thrilling and wildly entertaining story.
Also starring Bo Burnham, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and Clancy Brown, Promising Young Woman opens April 17th 2020.
