Promising Young Woman Script Analysis: Blurred Lines and Sharp Retribution
When the first trailer dropped for Promising Young Women, the internet was abuzz with what is essentially the opening scene of the film. The setting was one any woman could relate to and one I have to imagine would make any man pause. “Every week I go to a club. And every week I act like I’m too drunk to stand. And Every. F***ing. Week. A nice guy just like you comes over to see if I’m ok.” But of course we know that these “nice guys” are not checking to see if she’s okay.
Promising Young Woman is the 2020 film written, directed, and co-produced by Emerald Fennell in her feature directorial debut — not a bad start, considering it premiered at Sundance and won Best Original Screenplay at the 2021 Academy Awards (with additional nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress for Carey Mulligan, and Best Film Editing.
The film stars Mulligan as a 30-something medical school dropout who pretends to get drunk at bars and clubs then confronts the men who try to take sexual advantage of her “incapacitation.” Eventually it is revealed that she is motivated by the desire to avenge her friend who was publicly raped and subsequently committed suicide after her rapist was cleared of wrongdoing.
It explores consent, sexual assault, complicity, and our justice system. Let’s dig in.
OPENING IMAGE
The film opens on the conversation of men who think they’re good guys but are clear misogynists talking work at a night club where they see Cassandra hammered with “the skirt of her pinstriped work suit riding up.”
The men laugh and mock her lack of dignity before victim blaming her and objectifying her. Finally Jez (described as a shy, sweet guy) goes to check on her and help her get home safely, until he takes her to his place instead for another drink.
Fennel is not subtle depicting the men in this world. Jez’s co-workers make lewd gestures as he escorts a stumbling Cassandra out. The ride share driver sees how drunk Cassandra is but allows Jez to take her to his place anyway. From the get-go it is clear that in this world — in our world — men are dangerous.
Finally Jez gets Cassandra where he wants her — alone in his room. He has no hesitation about what he’s about to do, until he gets caught. And that, therein, is the premise of the film: sexual assaulters do not care about the damage they do to their victims; they only care if they must pay the consequences.
SET UP
We begin to learn more about Cassandra’s life in the light of day. She’s quick to defend women against men. She lies to her friends and parents about her nighttime vigilantism. She keeps a notebook with a list of her target’s names. She works at a little coffee shop. There she meets Ryan Cooper, an old classmate from medical school. After he accidentally insults her, he asks her out.
She does spit in his drink, but she also gives him her phone number.
INCITING INCIDENT
Cassandra goes on a date with Ryan but it’s clear she has her guard up. Will he be another man she catches in the act of trying to abuse her? But the connection is there. She gives him another chance and we finally get to our inciting incident: Ryan mentions that one of their classmates from med school is getting married. From her reaction, it’s clear that Al Monroe is an important figure from her past.
Cassandra goes home, tries to calm down, fails, and searches for Al on the internet, then finds herself compulsively digging into his beautiful life: beautiful home, beautiful fiancee, beautiful car — all of it.
Cassandra doesn’t spend much time feeling sickened by this shock to her system. Quickly, she hatches some kind of new plan that involves Al’s bachelor party and their mutual friend Madison.
BREAK INTO TWO
Cassandra meets Madison and plies her with drinks before confronting her about something that happened in medical school when a girl claimed that she’d been assaulted and Madison was part of the crowd who didn’t believe her.
Cassandra leaves Madison and approaches a man named Tony, points out Madison to him, hands him an envelope and a room key, and confirms that “she’s sure” about her plan. The next day, she gets frantic calls from Madison who is worried that she drank too much and that something happened at the hotel. Cassandra crosses Madison’s name off her list and moves on to the next one: Walker.
FUN AND GAMES
Next Cassandra meets up with Dean Walker, who had been part of the administration when Cassandra dropped out of medical school. Under the auspices of returning, Cassandra confronts Dean Walker about what happened with Al and a girl named Nina, who reported to the Dean that Al had raped her repeatedly in front of his friends, leaving her bruised and tormented.
Dean Walker claims not to remember the incident before explaining that the school gets so many similar accusations and insinuates that the girls shouldn’t have consumed alcohol or gone to the boys’ dorm rooms. “What would you have me do? Ruin a young man’s life every time an accusation is made? Have them expelled? That wouldn’t be fair. Accusations like this, they ruin lives.”
Cassandra placates the Dean, clarifying that she understands the Dean’s stance: innocent until proven guilty. Girls need to look out for themselves. Then she flips the switch and reveals that three hours earlier, she’d picked up the Dean’s teenage daughter from school and introduced her to the boys who live in the same dorm room where Nina had been raped.
Finally Cassandra gets Dean Walker to admit that she doesn’t trust college boys with a vulnerable girl after all “Look how easy it was! You just needed to think about it properly, didn’t you? I guess it feels different when it’s someone you love.” Cassandra allows the Dean to panic some more before revealing that she’d never actually bring a young girl to a boy’s dorm — “Luckily I don’t have as much faith in college boys as you do!” — and that her daughter is safe in a nearby diner.
BAD TO WORSE
Cassandra begins to unravel a bit. She violently smashes in the windows and lights of an aggressive driver. She forgets about a date with Ryan and has to blow him off. She tells her mother than nothing makes her feel better.
Finally Ryan spots her on one of her evening missions and mistakes it for her blowing him off to go out with someone else. They argue. He leaves. She threatens the guy she was going to target and warns him that other girls are out there doing the same kind of thing — one of them with scissors.
Next on her list is the lawyer who defended Al. She shows up ready for a fight and is surprised to discover that he is actually wracked with guilt and has been on sabbatical as a result of it. He remembers Nina. He can’t forgive himself. But Cassandra forgives him.
Even Nina’s parents ask Cassandra to move on and to let them move on.
She tries. She makes up with Ryan. They begin to fall in love.
Then Madison shows up. Cassandra apologizes to her and reassures her that nothing happened when she got drunk. But the scare got to Madison and she started to think about Nina and what happened to her and she remembered that there had been a tape that was sent around depicting Nina’s rape — and Ryan is in the video.
BREAK INTO THREE
Cassandra confronts Ryan. She makes him watch the video and makes a deal with him. Either she is going to send it to everyone he knows — his parents, his employer, his friends — or he can tell her where Al’s bachelor party is going to be.
Ryan grapples with getting caught and Cassandra plans for the party.
FINALE
Cassandra poses as a stripper at Al’s bachelor party. She leaves the guests downstairs with music blaring and cuffs Al to a bedpost before revealing who she is. When he finds out, he panics and tries to pretend like he’d done nothing wrong.
Cassandra reveals that she and Nina had been numbers 1 and 2 in their class until Al raped Nina. Nina dropped out. Cassandra dropped out to take care of her. Al graduated Magna Cum Laude as a result. Then Nina killed herself. Al’s world went on and Nina’s ended, her life forgotten by everyone but Cassandra.
Cassandra reveals she’s going to cut Nina’s name onto Al’s chest so he can never forget Nina’s name again. But it doesn’t go the way she’d planned. He breaks free and manages to kill her to keep her silent. And by the way, the scene is very disturbing — my puppy wouldn’t stop barking and I felt like I’d just exposed her to traumatic violence because I did.
Al’s friend Joe helps cover up the murder and burn Cassandra’s body.
Her parents file a missing person report and police ask Ryan if he knew anything. He lies and says that Cassandra left for a work trip.
The final scene takes place at Al’s wedding. The boys think they’ve all gotten away with everything, but Cassandra had planned for the worst. In a montage, we see people receiving messages and evidence from Cassandra in the event of her disappearance before the cops show up and take Al away.
While the ending isn’t a happy one — Cassandra got her revenge but her life was ruined and ended in the bargain — it is darkly cathartic.
In Promising Young Woman, Fennell sharply exposed many of the faces of rape culture and confronted viewers with truths about sexual assault, the pursuit of justice, and society’s relationship with complicity and victims.
