Promising Young Woman
Promising Young Woman is a 2020 thriller comedy film directed by Eternal Emerald Ferrell. It stars Carey Mulligan, Bo Burnham and Alison Brie. The film is about a girl who lives a double life after an unforgettable tragedy.Â
This film was a surprise indie hit when it first screened to some critics a few months ago. Looking at the trailer, I still had my doubts. But, Carey Mulligan is a fantastic actress and her project choices are usually fantastic. It turns out this is every bit the surprise hit it promised to be. It has very strong 80s vibes and a surprisingly good, bittersweet powerful message at the end.
Carey Mulligan is great. She captures the role perfectly. There was a fine line between extremely charming and psychopath, and she crossed both seamlessly. Do not be surprised to see a Golden Globe nomination out of this, and this is easily my favorite performance from her ever. The music is also really good, and the stylized editing and tone of the film was very nice too.
People had problems with the ending, but I didn’t. It caught me quite off-guard and it was definitely uncomfortable to watch. Still, I thought it was powerful and somewhat necessary to stand out in an era where so many films are just tributes to the 80s or 90s. Her chemistry with Bo Burnham was good but after a while you can somewhat see where their relationship is going to go.
This is one of the better films of a torrid 2020 that had so many flops and only a handful of really good films. This is, fortunately, one of the latter. This feels like a tribute to the 80s whilst trying to be it’s own thing. The ending, whilst definitely controversial, worked for me for the most part but if there were just a few more scenes I wouldn’t have minded. Still, Carey Mulligan is fantastic. Promising Young Woman receives an 7.9/10.













