Promising Young Woman - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Promising Young Woman



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
I knew next to NOTHING about Promising Young Woman before it showed up on my doorstep last week. I hadn’t seen a trailer for it, a notification for it, and the only exposure I had to the film was noticing Carey Mulligan on the cover of the Blu-ray (which, after watching the movie is probably one of THE worst front covers for a movie that I’ve ever seen. It doesn’t even remotely capture the theme with it’s glitzy pink and blue cover of a pretty woman on the front). However, reading the back cover of the film had me wince. I hate assault revenge films with a passion, having been scarred as a 10 year old kid by watching I Spit on Your Grave. They’re usually very grungy and dirty, with the female assault survivor almost always slicing and dicing her predators with vicious glee. Even as a horror fanatic the sub genre has never really sat right with me, and I usually tend to ignore movies in that wheel house.

That being said, I was completely floored by Promising Young Woman after viewing it. I went in totally expecting to hate it (simply judging by the sub genre) and I came out shockingly entertained. This isn’t your typical blood and guts revenge flick. Nor is it overly tawdry and lewd either. It takes the sensitive subject of a woman being assaulted, and turns it into a clever satire/thriller that completely upends the status quo in the third act, and sends the film into a wildly inventive tail spin that makes it one of the better watches I’ve recently seen.

Cassie Thomas (Carey Mulligan) was a promising young woman (yeah I know) on her way to becoming a doctor when her best friend Nina was taken advantage of during a drunken party night, and left for dead. When the school system and the legal system refuse to punish the perpetrators, Cassie falls into a slump that spirals her into a do nothing coffee shop job, living with her parents (Clancy Brown and Jennifer Coolidge). To everyone around her she’s a total mess, and technically that’s true. Cassie is nowhere near a good place mentally. However, at night she plays the role of a drunken party girl, luring unscrupulous men into a place where she can turn the tables on them, revealing her sobriety and humiliating them before they have the chance to take advantage of ANOTHER young.

It’s not exactly that glamorous, but Cassie takes pride in emotionally eviscerating these possible predators, hopefully shocking them into realizing their impropriety. But things take an interesting turn when she finds out that the guy who assaulted Nina is getting married soon, and everyone around him is ignoring the fact that he was accused of assault years ago. Simultaneously, Cassie is finding healing in the arms of a young doctor who is the exact OPPOSITE of the men she has been hunting the last 10 years. It seems her life is getting back on track, but Cassie can’t get the thought of Nina’s perpetrator going free and plans one last revenge plot to corner him before it’s too late and he’s married to his unsuspecting bride.

Promising Young Woman is the freshman entry for burgeoning writer/director Emerald Fennell, and she handles the subject matter beautifully. Instead of washing oneself in the rote and boring world of hyper gore and lewdness, Emerald deconstructs the assault revenge genre and rebuilds it from the ground up, cleverly paying homage to the films that came before it, but walking a completely different path in the execution. I was really really enjoying the film for the first 2/3rds of the movie, but let me tell you this. Emerald completely hits you from the side in the third act, pulling a diabolical sucker punch that comes out of nowhere. I’m not going to give ANYTHING away as that act must be seen to be believed, but her deconstruction of the assault revenge genre is perfected in the third act. I was sitting there wondering if this was supposed to be a bitter satire about the futile nature of revenge, only for that sucker punch to hit me upside the head and replace my bemusement with understanding and a huge grin across the face. It’s not PERFECT, but the Promising Young Woman takes a tired old genre, tears it down to it’s base elements, builds it up without the lewd trappings that have kept this type of films in a very niche market, and completes her story with a cherry on top that just WORKS.




Rating:

Rated R for strong violence including assault, language throughout, some sexual material and drug use




Video:

Promising Young Woman’s 2.39:1 framed AVC Blu-ray image can be quite stunning at times, but also rather uneven. The opening shot at the club is riddled with noise and some blocking, but overly saturated with bright colors and deep black levels. Outdoor shots such as Cassie at her coffee shop job are much sharper and more vivid, with incredible detail levels and a sort of cherry bubblegum color grading going on. Darker shots inside of houses are good, but I also notice the film seems to go from razor sharp to super soft at the drop of a hat. I’m not sure whether it’s intentional, but some scenes look Vaseline smooth and soft, while others allow you to see every pore on Carey Mulligan’s face. Black levels are generally strong, but digital noise crops up in the club scene as well as several of the bedroom shots. Generally a very good looking image, but the unevenness is rather head scratching.






Audio:

The 7.1 DTS-HD MA track is EASILY the highlight of the entire disc. It’s generally reference material across the board, with deep bass hits for the tense moments, a crushing score that feels like it can be both light and air, and oppressive at the same time. Surrounds are active with the club sequences and the wedding at the end, while they can fade into the background during the dialog heavy portions (which there are a lot). Vocals are crisp and cleanly located up front where they’re supposed to be, and the score is given a massive range to play with, giving us super quiet dialog moments, only for a slamming score, or the crash to startle the viewer up from their quiet introspection. Great track, easily my favorite part of this whole disc.
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Extras:

• Feature Commentary with Writer/Director Emerald Fennell
• A Promising Vision – Writer/Director Emerald Fennell discusses her inspirations for writing this bold, genre-bending film.
• Two-Sided Transformation – A look at why Carey Mulligan was the perfect choice to play "Cassie" and how filmmakers used wardrobe, hair, and makeup to express the balance between light and dark.
• Balancing Act – Cast members discuss their unexpected reactions to the careful balance of levity and tragedy in director Emerald Fennell's take on female revenge.

Final Score: ​

Promising Young Woman is a clever thriller that mixes social satire and a well nuanced tale of betrayal and revenge in a way that is much more palatable than others in this particular genre. The story is wickedly biting, mildly humorous, and ends with a twist third act that comes out of nowhere, and leaves you with a hugely satisfied feeling. The movie is the first of Emerald Fennell’s, and she does a GREAT job for her first outing. Universal’s Blu-ray release is rather excellent as well, with good video, great audio, but a fairly mediocre set of extras. Definitely worth checking out if this review has piqued your curiosity at all.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Carey Mulligan, Bo Burnham, Alison Brie, Jennifer Coolidge, Adam Brody, Clancy Brown, Loren Paul
Directed by: Emerald Fennell
Written by: Emerald Fennell
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 7.1, French DTS 5.1, Spanish DTS-HD HR 7.1
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Studio: Universal
Rated: R
Runtime: 113 minutes
Blu-Ray Release March 16th, 2021

Recommendation: Interesting Watch

 

[Travis Ballstadt]

We’d been waiting for this since the early digital release. AppleTV has prominently featured it for months. I was waiting for a UHD disc, but alas it did not come, so we watched the UHD Dolby Vision and Atmos version on iTunes last night. Loved it.

Nominated for Best Picture, Best Actress, Screenplay, Directing and Editing...

 

[JBrax]

Excellent watch!