The film, which lasts almost two hours, begins with Mulligan in a bar, drunk and seemingly in need of protection: Cassandra "Cassie" Thomas thus attracts the attention of men who, although often goaded by their suit-wearing buddies, come across as gallant. Often enough, one of them brings Cassie home and then just tries to get down on her sexually. The men realize their problem too late: the woman only pretended to be drunk and is out for revenge.
The directorial debut of the only 35-year-old Emerald Fennell asks if it's really true that the vast majority of men are "good guys" and where the boundaries between good and bad are crossed. She also wrote the screenplay and won an Oscar for the story, which fits the "Me Too" zeitgeist.
Despite the often gaudy staging, Fennell's film is not clumsy and exaggerated, but always balanced, for example when you see how lost the main character acts - and that even when a presumably well-meaning college friend enters Cassie's life, it is not always clear , whose behavior crosses borders and when.
This Ryan is played by comedian Bo Burnham, who recently received very positive reviews with a pandemic special on Netflix. Just like Mulligan, he's cast here contrary to his usual image and that's also good for the film - although "Promising Young Woman" could have done with a bit more courage, especially towards the end.
Promising Young Woman, USA/England 2020, 108 min., FSK 16+, by Emerald Fennell, with Carey Mulligan, Bo Burnham, Jennifer Coolidge, Laverne Cox
