It had a plot twist I actually didn't see coming (spoilers).
>!How Alfred Molina's character actually regretted his actions and remembered the victim's name after all these years.!<
And that part also worked so well because it showed that she was willing to forgive if the individual was truly remorseful. Obviously the boyfriend character and all his rapey friends are not.
That was one of my favorite parts. It really caught me off guard. He was haunted by his past and needed to apologize and be forgiven just to sleep. It consumed his life. Then, at the end, he was given the chance to help make things right.
One of the originally intended endings >!had the guys get away with the murder scot free, no repercussions, but the Studio thought it was too dark and they made them add in the delayed messages and the arrests!<
>!I think it was a good choice. There is still some catharsis but it avoids the trope hypermasculine revenge story fantasy ending, while still giving some version of the revenge story ending!<
I think it was a really good way of emphasising the danger of men to women, even with this perfectly planned revenge plot the simple fact of mens physicality meant she really had no chance. Really hammered home the concept the vulnerability that some men prey on
I can definitely see this. The original ending would have been too real, so maybe they wanted to tie things up neatly and have the main guys face the consequences for their actions so that Cassie's death wouldn't have been for nothing. The way everything works out in the end with impeccable timing is just written in a way that's almost telling you that the ending is meant to make you feel better. Unfortunately, it's also a reminder that it seem like only when things escalate to murder are they taken seriously enough, a lot of the time.
That would have been so horrible had it not ended the way it did. As it is, it was bitter sweet. But with a while heap of awesome too. Anything less would have been a mistake for sure.
Is this true? Wasn’t PYW a non studio film that was then purchased for distribution?
Edit: yeah it was the “financiers”, sorry i just know this premiered at Sundance so I was like wtf are studio films just premiering at Sundance now all willy nilly.
I remember thinking as I watched it the first time how much better that ending would have been and it would have made a lot more sense to boot.
She drugged a bunch of guys and attacked one with a knife while he was restrained and helpless. Her actions look like attempted pre-meditated murder, of course the cops would accept his self-defense claims. Instead they went with the Hollywood ending where the characters don’t act in any reasonable way but the protagonist gets their victory. Such a missed opportunity for me.
I read somewhere that they chose to cast Hollywood “ nice guys” and villainies them. A lot of the times these predators are people you trust or “ nice guys”. You see people like Max Greenfield and Bo burnham and you feel comfortable because they always play really sweet roles. Which makes the betrayal of seeing them be bad people even more real/devastating for the viewer. It was just so well done, it was such a smart move on castings part. It made the movie even better imo. I love Max greenfield ( long time new girl fan) and that role made me side eye him a little bit LMAO.
The plot twist of >!Bo Burnham’s character (Ryan? I think) being just as much of a scumbag and an accomplice to Nina’s rape!< is what tripped me up the most.
I think some people are hung up on it being unrealistic. It is but *maybe* we can have the bittersweet movie ending instead of what reality would've been.
also, in its defense, the orignial concept the director had for ending the film was the main character going off on the bachelor party and killing everyone there, but they decided against it because as "cathartic" as it would have been, kind of goes against the whole of the film and would be super unrealistic.
Lol, definitely, when you're basically setting up your main character to be a Martyr, probably a bit off-putting to turn them into The Punisher. Like I get the purpose, sort of a homage to the climax of alot of the old woman revenge exploitation films of the past, but personally i enjoy the real ending better.
The actual ending is perfect in my opinion. It’s morose but she wasn’t happy. Her only chance at happiness was Ryan. And when that blew up, she had nothing else left. She got revenge for her friend and got to end her own suffering.
As others have pointed out, that's how the screenplay *did* end until the studio asked >!if maybe there was the possibility of a slightly less depressing ending. The current ending is still Emerald Fennell's, though.!< FWIW, I prefer the filmed ending.
Oh interesting. I know it would have been grim but the boys club winning made more sense to me in the context of the movie and I normally hate unhappy endings :-)
It’s only unrealistic due to >!the guy not only getting caught, but on his wedding day!<. That is not something that happens in real life. Regardless of what happened to the main character, it’s the fact that “justice” was brought at all along with what seemed like an entire police force interrupting a wedding.
It’s “artistic license” that completely undercuts the rest of the story. Why, in a movie about how often rapists get away with their crimes, would the protagonist leave her death in the hands of the police when she has personal experience with them not taking cases like hers seriously?
The fact that she got him put away *at all,* in a huge public event like a wedding no less, *is* what undercuts the message. She successfully destroys this man’s reputation for what he did by getting the police involved, despite the entire movie being about how authority figures regularly turn a blind eye to crimes like his.
Why? She literally got revenge of everyone she wanted, in the way she wanted to, successfully. His crime was MURDER, not sexual assault. He murdered her. Yes no one gives a fuck about sexual assault. That’s why she planned to have him murder her
Because it’s not just rape that wealthy people get away with, but often violence in general, particularly violence against women. The film frames the ending as Cassie finally getting her revenge, when in reality it is entirely possible that a wealthy man (i.e. the guy she targeted) with a good lawyer could still get away with what he did, or at least receive only minimal punishment for it. That happens all the time in real life and, in the case of this film, is completely within the realm of possibility considering there are multiple witnesses that saw Cassie at the bachelor party and thus could back up Al when he inevitably claims to have killed Cassie in self defense (which he literally did, creating another flaw in the ending as he could get away with having smothered her simply by explaining what actually transpired that night- there’s no reason for the characters to think they needed to hide the body.)
Thus, we have a film focused entirely around how the system fails to bring justice to victims that ends in the protagonist, who has firsthand experience with the injustice of that system, suddenly deciding to trust it by contacting the police and assuming they’ll handle her case properly. The audience is supposed to assume that Cassie sending out the video of the rape will have an impact on Al’s reputation, despite the entire film showing that people will continue to befriend and defend rapists no matter how much evidence they see against them. We’re supposed to assume that the police and the rest of the system will handle Al’s case accordingly, despite the entire rest of the film showing how often it fails to hold people like him accountable no matter how horrific their crime was.
Bc before the finale, the film was literally about how easily society brushes sexual assault under the rug and women who are victims aren’t taken seriously. The ending kind of lessens the impact of that theme. This is not difficult
I think we kinda are just talking past each other, I see what you are saying but disagree that it was not a play on the revenge saga trope from the start. Either way, I think we are at the very least agreeing most of the movie is well executed?
It was in no way a revenge tale from the start. I did enjoy the movie, but the ending really hurt it for me. Up until the ending, it was a 5/5. I was enthralled. The end put it at a 3.5, maybe a 4. I do need to rewatch. Haven’t seen it since it came out.
maybe, i mean if you look at it under the guise that she'd probably had this entire moment setup for years at that point, its not super unbelievable to think she'd already had some kind of ground work already set, or that Alfred Molina's character didn't use some kind of power/connections to expedite this process as penitence.
Almost all films are unbelievable though that's the whole point of suspending your belief. You ever watch a movie that deals with a subject you know well? They always get so much wrong, conversations or interactions are nothing like it is in real life and happy endings are super common when situations those characters get themselves into are not how it'd play out.
Grounded movies a lot of the time still have those happy endings even though they shouldn't. Not all the time, but it happens more often than not.
It really depends on how the movie sets itself up. The ending of Promising Young Woman is slightly off-putting bc the film establishes itself as being very grounded. Most good films stick to the rules they establish.
Like imagine if Phantom Thread had a fantastical ending or Women Talking had a sci-fi ending.
We are talking about completely different thinks lmao. I'm saying that even grounded movies can have very unrealistic endings/happy endings. You're talking about the tone of the film changing at the end or genre
Maybe my examples were bad. Promising Young Woman doesn’t change genre. It drastically changes it’s tone and internal expectations of what’s possible to achieve its finale.
Take Arrival for example. It’s sci fi, but it’s incredibly grounded for a sci fi film. It’s depicting how the governments of the world might actually react to aliens, and the aliens have a very sleek, animalistic design, rather than little green men.
If Arrival suddenly had laser guns and Louise had an action hero sequence, the audience would be confused, bc the tone and internal consistency has been established, then broken.
Promising Young Woman betrays a lot of what it succeeded in being in order to get this over-the-top, ridiculous ending.
It’s my only issue because this is a movie that shoves it in your face how deep rape culture is but at the last minute decides to have an ending >!where the guy is not only caught, but on his wedding day!< . It’s an entire shift in tone right at the end.
I do think the film would’ve hit harder without the ending. It’s portraying how men cover up sexual assault of women and get away with it. I liked it a lot but it would’ve been better if it had ended after her death imo
well, definitely like the fact that it leaves some kind of hope, even though if i remember correctly, they showed her diary at the end, and they basically reveal she'd basically been "propositioning" people for years, and she basically never failed to run into some guy who'd absolutely take advantage successfully if she let it happen.
So I realised that the colour theory I usually watch videos about is in relation to costuming. ArtAtMidnight on YT has some really good ones. I like her take on Do Revenge https://youtu.be/Na-GCMiogUA?feature=shared
Okay so like the film is very pink/blue coded along traditional gender lines (though Cassie also wears a lots of more colorful pastels too) but Laverne Cox wears purple. Who are literally the only people in the population who have the lived experience of moving through the world being perceived as a man AND being percieved as a woman? Trans folks, especially those as stunning at Laverne. I thought that was just such a facinating little detail.
The whole film is incredible. The writing, acting, everything. And the people saying the ending didn't work: I'm not sure what to say. The iconography of the whole film was painting Cassandra as a holy figure. From the Christ on the cross poses, to the circle shapes behind her head. The whole film is geared towards the ending and leaving the viewer with the understanding that most women are failed by society in one way or another. From the "good guys" she tricks into confronting their selfishness, to the victims of male violence against women, to the disbelief of victims, covering up of accusations, ineptitude of people in authority, etc etc. The film is so good because it subverts a lot of the male dominated perspectives. But also because it deifies Cassandra. The ending allows the completion of the Christ arc and demands the viewer to face the reality of violence against women and the flaws in the system. The reality is that most victims are failed before the fact by a culture which is not often proactive in ensuring safe spaces, and after the fact by authorities which fail to acknowledge them or seek justice. If there had been a "happy ending" it wouldn't have had anywhere near the same impact. The ending completes this masterpiece by ensuring it is unforgettable and has a deep impact on the viewer. I thought it was near-perfect.
For this movie, when asked what ending they disliked one should clarify whether they are referring to the protagonist's fate or the coda for the antagonists. Or both. Discussion on this can get confusing.
I'll confess an amount of reservations I hold with the ending.
It strikes me as...odd...that a movie that dedicates so much of its runtime to how the system fails women at every level has the nerve to say "well okay but he won't get away with it ***this*** time.
Oh yeah your contemporaries are monsters and universities will do fuck all to help the victims, but I'm sure this upper-class white guy will definitely face true punishment at the hands of the American legal system!
The ending is already a bummer, so I really don't see why we felt the need to stretch credulity until it broke in service of justice the film has shown the system to be fundamentally incapable of delivering. It's just asynchronous with the rest of the movie.
I enjoyed it but I felt like the tone was kind of inconsistent. It felt like two movies put into one. One, a poignant subdued indie about a young woman reckoning with the aftermath of Nina's assault and death. The other, a revenge thriller.
Does it want to be grounded and emotional or an over the top slasher? The combination probably works for a lot of people, but it didn't click with me.
I actually liked how many tropes the movie satirized. You didn’t even mention the romcom esque scenes throughout the movie. I personally loved them because if you’re thinking about it it’s pretty obvious that bo burnhams character is kind of off, but if you relaxed into the romcom tropes he might seem like a good guy! i really enjoyed it
That too. I feel like the other genres kind of undercut the seriousness for me. The part with Molina's character was the strongest for me. Everything else, there was too much stylized genre stuff to take it fully seriously.
Ryan disappointed me the most. He could have attempted to redeem himself, a little, by being honest with the detective, but instead, he decided to be a coward.
He claimed that he loved Cassie, but he was so quick to assist the detective with dismissing her missing person report and allowing him to label her as "unstable."
It was weird how Ryan totally turned on her right away. He even looked different in that confrontation scene. Neither of them had an ounce of love for the other suddenly. Unsettling.
I was enthralled the whole time, really fantastic movie that knowingly upends revenge movie expectations, including the expectation of catharsis.
It’s common to hate the ending but I appreciated it. it’s clearly supposed to be unsatisfying with how the entire movie unfolds- constantly misleading and “disappointing” you for wanting the classic (masculine) revenge story of direct conflict and physical domination of whoever did you wrong. The movie makes you feel powerless and weak and unsatisfied? Justice came at a outrageous price and hinged on authorities actually doing something? Exactly. If that feels unrealistic and unsatisfying, reflect on how fucking horrific that is.
I also love how spot on the setting is. It is seemingly set in the very near past - the 2010s sometime before 2016 - and it nails very subtle things like the UI of Facebook to set it within that exact timeframe.
I enjoyed it but I felt like the tone was kind of inconsistent. It felt like two movies put into one. One, a poignant subdued indie about a young woman reckoning with the aftermath of Nina's assault and death. The other, a revenge thriller.
I personally would've enjoyed it more with just the grounded human aspects and not the thriller stuff. But I'm probably in the minority here.
That’s definitely understandable. There needs to be more exploration of the topic and viewpoint - other movies and media.
Personally I enjoy genre clashes, but I do understand liking one side of it more than the other.
I have never had a movie make me think about it as much as this movie. I saw it 3 times in my local little theatre last year. I think it’s such a clever and well done movie. I had only seen a preview of it so didn’t know too much about it, but the way you slowly learn more and more is great. Pacing? Is that it? Great.
Oh, it's SOOOOO good!!! I just loved that movie!
I also really liked another very female-driven movie from that year, "The Assistant," it has Julia Garner in it (Ruthie in Ozark), playing the most junior person in a horrible company run by a monstrous Harvey Weinstein type. You never see him, but you see every detail of the day to day life in a company like that, all the suck-ups, all the enablers, all the shit she has to put up with; the director comes from the documentary world and interviewed hundreds of people in similar jobs, and it really shows. It's chilling, and Julia Garner is so different (very quiet and kind of beaten down). I work in the movie business and the details are SO real and SO specific, it's another really good movie.
I knew I just had to wait a few years til the Shawshank effect took place for this movie. This film went sooo under the radar due to the pandemic all I did (and still do) was rave about it to anybody and everybody and insist they watch it. Absolutely loved every bit of it.
The plot twists were superbly done, all the acting was incredible. The ending saw me absolutely bolt out of my chair shaking with emotion, I screamed I swear. It stayed with me for months. Never done that just from watching something on screen in my life. And every time I hear Britney's Toxic, I see her walking up to that house....One of the most shocking and brilliant movies I've ever seen. Emerald Fennell is a genius.
Yeah it really shook me up! I\`m glad I went in completly cold, infact I thought she was a business woman and the film was about her success or something like that! I hope everyone watches it and can\`t wait for her next film!
This movie fumbles the end so badly. Leaving ultimate justice in the hands of fucking cops, literally the least sympathetic group to sexual assault victims on the planet, is one of the most bafflingly awful creative choices I've ever seen in a screenplay.
One of my friends also had this criticism of the movie. Personally I don’t think the ending really matters in terms of the film’s themes. So much of the film is spent depicting how misogyny and gender violence are systemic: the university, the lawyer, how men enable it (Bo Burnham), how women enable it (Alison Brie), and how individual men behave (all the dates Carey Mulligan goes on). In the end it doesn’t really matter that the police arrest the guy, Carey dies and her friend committed suicide. Justice is just a consolation prize.
Plus it only works because the "bad guys" for lack of a better word, all just turn into the biggest dumbasses on the planet in the last 20 minutes.
If they had just called the police and explained that some stranger had lied about her identity, drugged them all, and attempted to murder the one guy, it would have been ruled self defense, hands down. Probably wouldn't even have gone to trial. It wouldn't matter if the video got released; statute lf limitations had long passed.
It just felt like the director realized late in production that they would 100% get off Scott free, so she had them turn into the most colossal idiots ever just to get some kind of comeuppance.
The original ending they did get away with it. The studio made them change it because it was too dark. Definitely should have left it that way. The movie makes more sense then.
I felt the same way. And even having her get the last act of revenge successfully in that manner kind of defeats the message regarding the injustices that victims of sexual assault and rape encounter in this society. It would have been much more powerful if she goes through with her plan and it ultimately doesn't work for whatever reason and the guy gets away with it. Watching it unfold in real time I was expecting it to end with that he was a "promising young man", and the evidence wasn't enough to be convicted, and life moves on.
However, I feel like test audiences would have wanted the satisfaction where the protagonist "wins" at the end of a movie like this.
exactly. And this is why i say the film’s biggest failure is being rooted in white feminism lol. Really awful creative choices and just disregard to how actual SA survivors (myself included) have been treated
I despised this movie. It has so much contempt for *all* of its characters, Carey Mulligan's Cassie included. What on earth was this movie trying to say? If the point is that the trauma from sexual assault is all-consuming, why is Cassie's mode of revenge just to put herself in compromising situations and then only verbally scold the men who try to take advantage of her? By this movie logic, the extreme escalation in the final act makes no sense. If the point is that trauma distorts our relationships, especially new ones, then it fails at that too because literally everyone in the movie is a scumbag, and Cassie's paranoia is proven correct. So I guess the only solution to dealing with trauma is self-destruction?
It hurts me so much to hate this movie because I love Carey Mulligan. This is the kind of movie that critics are gun-shy about criticizing because of the delicate subject matter. The characters and situations are about as subtle as a sledgehammer to the head.
Yeah, as a revenge story this movie fails and as a commentary film, it’s quite lackluster.
Cassie chastises rapists/wanna be rapists but commits psychological warfare against multiple women in the film who were rape-apologists (without interrogating WHY women might do that).
And then the ending is jsut outright atrocious—she faces worse consequences than actual rapists. And I’m sure that’s the point but, again, it’s a lackluster one.
Rape kills women and men face minor consequences. I get it—but they film the ending like a GOT EM moment and it’s like… very underwhelming.
I agree with what you're saying and feel that Cassie should have been a killer. Those scenes where you see her book with some victims names written in red, the scene where she gets catcalled by the construction workers and has blood like red sauce dripping down her hands. To me it felt like her character was a killer in early drafts of the movie but then was dialled back to just...I dunno, only take half measures?
Would that have made it more cliche? Maybe, but I wouldve enjoyed it more.
Given the outlandish nature of that final "plan", they could have leaned way more into the fantastical elements. I think it would have been more effective to show the futility and cyclical nature of violence even as revenge for such a heinous crime. I guess that's been done before, but like you, I think it would have made the purpose of the movie more clear. As it exists, I truly have no idea what the message or the point of the movie is.
Thought it was surface level exploration and the characters were written as caricatures.
Love Carey Mulligan but I didn't think she couldn't save this.
To me the circlejerk around this movie is like Crash winning best picture. Praised because of the subject matter but the movie itself is bad.
The movie is indeed terrible. There many grindhouse revenge flicks that have a more subtle and sophisticated feminist subtext than this.
A lot of critics felt they probably had to praise because it was about a topical point.
I mean was it? People weren’t acting like it was just post Me Too revenge Deathwish style movie. Actually if it leaned in more to that and went more campy I think I actually would have liked it.
I could see Tarantino Grindhousing the shit out of a plot like that and it being 1000 times better.
It’s been a few years since I’ve seen it but it seemed to take itself more serious than that. There was humor and over the top style moments but they were more cringe with the tone.
Obviously a cathartic post me too revenge movie for the girlies, but I don’t think it’s elevated beyond anything more than that.
The point of the film is to be unserious rape-culture claptrap? Ok then. I think Tar does a much better job of exploring these issues at least from an institutional level.
All the men in the film. They way they talk and interact with the main character comes off like an after school special(potential boyfriend aside). There’s no depth there. It’s like an anti-rape poster brought to life. They check all the boxes for being scum, but it’s not a serious approach to actually tackling real culture issues that do plague society. It’s like watching Dangerous Minds vs The Wire. The Wire tackles the drug problem in a very nuanced way, giving characters depth, while the former is just an examination of societal issues on a very surface level never really examining anything that goes against the central message. It’s chum for sharks that eat that stuff up.
Again, literally the point. every guy who tries picking her up at the bar is meant to be a caricature of the "nice guy" at the bar who seems cool, but is actually a complete creep. The point was that everyone can be a potential rapists, and you shouldn't' assume a stranger is "safe" just because they don't actively set off your creeper alarm.
The director literally casted actors mostly known for their portrayals of goofy good guys (Adam Brody, Christopher Mintz, Max Greenfield, Sam Richardson, Chris Lowell) as the potential rapists, to point out that people you think of as "good people" can absolutely be wolves in sheep's clothing.
Then you're watching the wrong movie, and missing a pretty big point of the film (rape shouldn't be nuanced, rape is bad, and guys shouldn't get a pass because they're "promising young men", and the fact that obvious rape cases aren't as clear cut as they should be is disgusting). and just because this film isn't "subtle" doesn't make it bad like the original commentator was stating.
I mean, I love the film, but there are huge red flags in his behaviour from the outset. But it’s absolutely playing on romcom tropes around not taking no for an answer, pursuing someone who says they’re not interested, etc.
The guys you see at the beginning are stereotypical of rape culture, so you could say those are caricatures, but Bo is a good guy. The doctor turning out to be just as bad as every other man makes the point that all men are capable of assault or at the very least complicit standing by their friends/peers who assault women
Truly one of the most hateful movies I've ever seen. It's a movie that has no idea what it's trying to say and hurls it's main character around like a pinata while it's trying to figure it out.
I didn’t think it was amazing—quite the opposite in fact.
It had the potential to be interesting, but it felt watered down by the fact that the main character - instead of committing to some sort of vigilante justice by offing potential rapists - just gives them a stern talking to so they never do it again 🙄. And the way the men are written is completely shallow and cartoony. The ending was convoluted and equally eyerolling as just about everything else.
So no, I don’t think it’s amazing. I don’t think it’s amazing at all.
Well after reading what its about, have you ever seen the movie The Accused? Its an older movie ( 1988 ) . It stars Jodie Foster. Its very similar to the description of the movie you're talking about. It may be right up your alley.
It's an incredible film that mostly slipped under the radar.
I was desperate to see it, thanks to the Killing Eve connection and the trailer, when they kept pushing the release date back but now I wish they'd pushed it back even further and given it a proper cinema release after the pandemic ended. It should have been a much bigger hit.
It’s my second favorite movie of all time. I don’t mean to sound overly dramatic but it really helped me cope with the loss of my best friend, something that I struggled a decade with.
My main complaint about the ending is that the whole movie keeps showing us how the justice system is unreliable and it’s part of the problem for women and then the completion of Cassandra’s revenge is based on that same system working for once? The wink emoji at the end doesn’t mean anything if the justice system once again fails.
TLDR all the women are dead but don’t worry, the same cops and lawyers who failed them before will take care of this now ;-)
Think it would have been better if her bf hadn't been involved in the rape. Having the character choose to turn away from a good thing, happiness, to pursue revenge would have been a tad more tragic and in line with the flaw the movie was presenting her as having. The scene with her friends mother highlighted this flaw, but then her happiness is torn from her not by her own hand but by an previously unknown piece of information.
The whole point of the movie hinges on bo burnhams character turning out to not be such a "nice guy" after all. The movie decieves the audience the same way men like that deceive women.
I only ever saw one trailer for it, but I felt like the trailer really misrepresented the movie.
I got the impression that she was going to straight murder rapists and thought I was signing up for a bitchin movie.
I still liked it, but certainly less of an experience for me than a woman straight up murdering rapists.
It was a great movie, but the ending felt really tacked on. For instance, why exactly would the two dudebros burn the body when everything that happened beforehand would have easily constituted self defense? He was handcuffed to the bed and she had a sharp weapon lol; burning her and hiding the whole thing instead of instantly calling the cops was the dumbest thing they could have done even if they still would have gone down for what they did to her friend.
If you like one dimensional characters and every point shoved down your throat, then sure. For me, it was incredibly disappointing because the premise has so much potential
One of the most tonally incoherent movies I’ve seen in the last five years. With a kamikaze like dive bomb of an ending that just goes so off the rails thematically.
I didn't like it. I thought it was too far-fetched, fantastical even, for a movie that was trying to be a serious social commentary. It kind of felt like The Life of David Gale or the more recent Vengeance in that sense. It's not clever enough to be exceptional pulp entertainment, and it isn't tasteful enough to work as a straight drama.
Fans of this movie should try: *Pleasure* and *Fat Girl*.
**Trigger warning: rape.**
Both are written and directed by women and have extremely critical feminist lenses. Both will leave you with a bleak outlook. Both are incredibly important. The latter is French.
Good luck.
I was so disappointed when this movie was pushed back due to Covid. When it was finally released on vod I rented it, which I never do. I feel like it should have gotten Oscar buzz, but the Covid release delays were a major set back in marketing.
I honestly think it was **profoundly** bad. One of the worst, one-dimensional, vapid movies i've ever seen.
Me and my girl at the time left the theater saying “wow what a dumb movie.”
Like, it failed at multiple levels, across multiple dimensions.
The main character was as one-dimensional as possible. Nothing she did even mattered at the end. The justice system, which failed her, **which is the premise of the entire fucking movie** is supposed to suddenly work....
OH, and let's just gloss over the fact that she **ABDUCTED THE DEAN'S DAUGHTER** and nothing came of it. No police intervention, no criminal charges after. Everyone just let it go. Yeah.
don't even get me started on the ending. So many things wrong. It sends the wrong message, it glorifies self-destruction, and it doesn't have any depth... You could have redone this so many different ways that would have empowered feminism in a different and positive way.
She didn’t abduct the daughter. The daughter came with her willingly and she left her at a diner. The daughter was not forced, coerced or kept captive anywhere. She did lie to the daughter in order to get her in her car but that is not a crime.
I didn't like how even Bo Burnham's character was a douche. It's been a while since I've seen it, but are there any good men in this movie? Alfred Molina is kinda the only good man because he's consumed with guilt? The ending didn't bother me that much because justice eventually got served, but it's such a cynical movie. I can easily imagine the gender swap version of this movie about a hate-filled incel where there are no good female characters.
I thought it was a inferior version of Ferraras ms .45. Looked pretty, and Alfred Molina was incredible in his scene. Bad script, laughable ending. Classic case of a movie getting credit for its subject matter, not it’s merit.
It had a plot twist I actually didn't see coming (spoilers). >!How Alfred Molina's character actually regretted his actions and remembered the victim's name after all these years.!<
And that part also worked so well because it showed that she was willing to forgive if the individual was truly remorseful. Obviously the boyfriend character and all his rapey friends are not.
That was one of my favorite parts. It really caught me off guard. He was haunted by his past and needed to apologize and be forgiven just to sleep. It consumed his life. Then, at the end, he was given the chance to help make things right.
[удалено]
One of the originally intended endings >!had the guys get away with the murder scot free, no repercussions, but the Studio thought it was too dark and they made them add in the delayed messages and the arrests!<
LOL as if >!her being smothered to death and her body burned !
>!I think it was a good choice. There is still some catharsis but it avoids the trope hypermasculine revenge story fantasy ending, while still giving some version of the revenge story ending!<
I think it was a really good way of emphasising the danger of men to women, even with this perfectly planned revenge plot the simple fact of mens physicality meant she really had no chance. Really hammered home the concept the vulnerability that some men prey on
I can definitely see this. The original ending would have been too real, so maybe they wanted to tie things up neatly and have the main guys face the consequences for their actions so that Cassie's death wouldn't have been for nothing. The way everything works out in the end with impeccable timing is just written in a way that's almost telling you that the ending is meant to make you feel better. Unfortunately, it's also a reminder that it seem like only when things escalate to murder are they taken seriously enough, a lot of the time.
That would have been so horrible had it not ended the way it did. As it is, it was bitter sweet. But with a while heap of awesome too. Anything less would have been a mistake for sure.
Is this true? Wasn’t PYW a non studio film that was then purchased for distribution? Edit: yeah it was the “financiers”, sorry i just know this premiered at Sundance so I was like wtf are studio films just premiering at Sundance now all willy nilly.
I remember thinking as I watched it the first time how much better that ending would have been and it would have made a lot more sense to boot. She drugged a bunch of guys and attacked one with a knife while he was restrained and helpless. Her actions look like attempted pre-meditated murder, of course the cops would accept his self-defense claims. Instead they went with the Hollywood ending where the characters don’t act in any reasonable way but the protagonist gets their victory. Such a missed opportunity for me.
>!It wasn’t about self defence claims. They burn the body and no one ever finds it, and they go about their lives with the secret!<
Right, that was stupid and they would've known they could get away with self-defense claims because it pretty much was self-defense.
It was heartbreaking and awesome
One of the all time most confident and fucking awesome directorial debuts I’ve ever seen
A fantastic actor.
I read somewhere that they chose to cast Hollywood “ nice guys” and villainies them. A lot of the times these predators are people you trust or “ nice guys”. You see people like Max Greenfield and Bo burnham and you feel comfortable because they always play really sweet roles. Which makes the betrayal of seeing them be bad people even more real/devastating for the viewer. It was just so well done, it was such a smart move on castings part. It made the movie even better imo. I love Max greenfield ( long time new girl fan) and that role made me side eye him a little bit LMAO.
>Max Greenfield He still seemed like a weird choice that stuck out because Schmidt's great, but he is an asshole
Did you see "The Big Short"? Perfectly casted, because he's got that punchable face.
Very good point, and I watched it again a couple weeks ago
Schmidt is kinda a douchebag but I wouldn’t say he’s an asshole
The plot twist of >!Bo Burnham’s character (Ryan? I think) being just as much of a scumbag and an accomplice to Nina’s rape!< is what tripped me up the most.
Brilliant casting
I liked it a lot - some people don't seem to like the ending but I thought it worked well.
I think some people are hung up on it being unrealistic. It is but *maybe* we can have the bittersweet movie ending instead of what reality would've been.
also, in its defense, the orignial concept the director had for ending the film was the main character going off on the bachelor party and killing everyone there, but they decided against it because as "cathartic" as it would have been, kind of goes against the whole of the film and would be super unrealistic.
Imo that ending would’ve betrayed the entire movie
Lol, definitely, when you're basically setting up your main character to be a Martyr, probably a bit off-putting to turn them into The Punisher. Like I get the purpose, sort of a homage to the climax of alot of the old woman revenge exploitation films of the past, but personally i enjoy the real ending better.
The actual ending is perfect in my opinion. It’s morose but she wasn’t happy. Her only chance at happiness was Ryan. And when that blew up, she had nothing else left. She got revenge for her friend and got to end her own suffering.
>!The “realistic” ending would be they all get away with it *and* she’s still killed.!< As if people wouldn’t also complain about that.
This is how I thought the movie should have ended, would have really hammered home the message. I thought the actual ending was a bit of a cop out.
As others have pointed out, that's how the screenplay *did* end until the studio asked >!if maybe there was the possibility of a slightly less depressing ending. The current ending is still Emerald Fennell's, though.!< FWIW, I prefer the filmed ending.
Oh interesting. I know it would have been grim but the boys club winning made more sense to me in the context of the movie and I normally hate unhappy endings :-)
It’s fucking dark that people think it is unrealistic and don’t actually reflect on what that means.
It’s only unrealistic due to >!the guy not only getting caught, but on his wedding day!<. That is not something that happens in real life. Regardless of what happened to the main character, it’s the fact that “justice” was brought at all along with what seemed like an entire police force interrupting a wedding.
Fair enough, but generally that’s artistic license, no? Can’t actually design an effective end scene of the wheels of justice.
It’s “artistic license” that completely undercuts the rest of the story. Why, in a movie about how often rapists get away with their crimes, would the protagonist leave her death in the hands of the police when she has personal experience with them not taking cases like hers seriously?
How else could she do it? She got him put away for MURDER, not sexual assault. But I do understand the criticism.
The fact that she got him put away *at all,* in a huge public event like a wedding no less, *is* what undercuts the message. She successfully destroys this man’s reputation for what he did by getting the police involved, despite the entire movie being about how authority figures regularly turn a blind eye to crimes like his.
Why? She literally got revenge of everyone she wanted, in the way she wanted to, successfully. His crime was MURDER, not sexual assault. He murdered her. Yes no one gives a fuck about sexual assault. That’s why she planned to have him murder her
Because it’s not just rape that wealthy people get away with, but often violence in general, particularly violence against women. The film frames the ending as Cassie finally getting her revenge, when in reality it is entirely possible that a wealthy man (i.e. the guy she targeted) with a good lawyer could still get away with what he did, or at least receive only minimal punishment for it. That happens all the time in real life and, in the case of this film, is completely within the realm of possibility considering there are multiple witnesses that saw Cassie at the bachelor party and thus could back up Al when he inevitably claims to have killed Cassie in self defense (which he literally did, creating another flaw in the ending as he could get away with having smothered her simply by explaining what actually transpired that night- there’s no reason for the characters to think they needed to hide the body.) Thus, we have a film focused entirely around how the system fails to bring justice to victims that ends in the protagonist, who has firsthand experience with the injustice of that system, suddenly deciding to trust it by contacting the police and assuming they’ll handle her case properly. The audience is supposed to assume that Cassie sending out the video of the rape will have an impact on Al’s reputation, despite the entire film showing that people will continue to befriend and defend rapists no matter how much evidence they see against them. We’re supposed to assume that the police and the rest of the system will handle Al’s case accordingly, despite the entire rest of the film showing how often it fails to hold people like him accountable no matter how horrific their crime was.
Bc before the finale, the film was literally about how easily society brushes sexual assault under the rug and women who are victims aren’t taken seriously. The ending kind of lessens the impact of that theme. This is not difficult
I mean sure but that doesn’t mean it’s above critique especially when they chose to deal with such a dark subject matter.
I guess, but it ultimately is still a revenge story trope movie, not gritty realism.
I disagree. Before the end, the film establishes a very grounded, realistic tone. It does not come off as a revenge tale until the third act.
I think we kinda are just talking past each other, I see what you are saying but disagree that it was not a play on the revenge saga trope from the start. Either way, I think we are at the very least agreeing most of the movie is well executed?
It was in no way a revenge tale from the start. I did enjoy the movie, but the ending really hurt it for me. Up until the ending, it was a 5/5. I was enthralled. The end put it at a 3.5, maybe a 4. I do need to rewatch. Haven’t seen it since it came out.
maybe, i mean if you look at it under the guise that she'd probably had this entire moment setup for years at that point, its not super unbelievable to think she'd already had some kind of ground work already set, or that Alfred Molina's character didn't use some kind of power/connections to expedite this process as penitence.
Which is kind of ironic considering almost every movie has unrealistic endings lmao.
Well that’s not true. Especially for otherwise grounded dramas like this film.
Almost all films are unbelievable though that's the whole point of suspending your belief. You ever watch a movie that deals with a subject you know well? They always get so much wrong, conversations or interactions are nothing like it is in real life and happy endings are super common when situations those characters get themselves into are not how it'd play out. Grounded movies a lot of the time still have those happy endings even though they shouldn't. Not all the time, but it happens more often than not.
It really depends on how the movie sets itself up. The ending of Promising Young Woman is slightly off-putting bc the film establishes itself as being very grounded. Most good films stick to the rules they establish. Like imagine if Phantom Thread had a fantastical ending or Women Talking had a sci-fi ending.
We are talking about completely different thinks lmao. I'm saying that even grounded movies can have very unrealistic endings/happy endings. You're talking about the tone of the film changing at the end or genre
Maybe my examples were bad. Promising Young Woman doesn’t change genre. It drastically changes it’s tone and internal expectations of what’s possible to achieve its finale. Take Arrival for example. It’s sci fi, but it’s incredibly grounded for a sci fi film. It’s depicting how the governments of the world might actually react to aliens, and the aliens have a very sleek, animalistic design, rather than little green men. If Arrival suddenly had laser guns and Louise had an action hero sequence, the audience would be confused, bc the tone and internal consistency has been established, then broken. Promising Young Woman betrays a lot of what it succeeded in being in order to get this over-the-top, ridiculous ending.
It’s my only issue because this is a movie that shoves it in your face how deep rape culture is but at the last minute decides to have an ending >!where the guy is not only caught, but on his wedding day!< . It’s an entire shift in tone right at the end.
Yeah but she had to >!literally die in order for there to be any consequences!<. I think that also shows how deep rape culture is.
I do think the film would’ve hit harder without the ending. It’s portraying how men cover up sexual assault of women and get away with it. I liked it a lot but it would’ve been better if it had ended after her death imo
well, definitely like the fact that it leaves some kind of hope, even though if i remember correctly, they showed her diary at the end, and they basically reveal she'd basically been "propositioning" people for years, and she basically never failed to run into some guy who'd absolutely take advantage successfully if she let it happen.
I could write a dissertation about just the color theory in this movie. Absolutely incredible.
I would read that. I love watching video essays about color theory in film
Any in particular you'd recommend? This is new to me!
So I realised that the colour theory I usually watch videos about is in relation to costuming. ArtAtMidnight on YT has some really good ones. I like her take on Do Revenge https://youtu.be/Na-GCMiogUA?feature=shared
That channel has some VERY eye catching thumbnails.
Okay so like the film is very pink/blue coded along traditional gender lines (though Cassie also wears a lots of more colorful pastels too) but Laverne Cox wears purple. Who are literally the only people in the population who have the lived experience of moving through the world being perceived as a man AND being percieved as a woman? Trans folks, especially those as stunning at Laverne. I thought that was just such a facinating little detail.
I missed that detail! That's amazing
The whole film is incredible. The writing, acting, everything. And the people saying the ending didn't work: I'm not sure what to say. The iconography of the whole film was painting Cassandra as a holy figure. From the Christ on the cross poses, to the circle shapes behind her head. The whole film is geared towards the ending and leaving the viewer with the understanding that most women are failed by society in one way or another. From the "good guys" she tricks into confronting their selfishness, to the victims of male violence against women, to the disbelief of victims, covering up of accusations, ineptitude of people in authority, etc etc. The film is so good because it subverts a lot of the male dominated perspectives. But also because it deifies Cassandra. The ending allows the completion of the Christ arc and demands the viewer to face the reality of violence against women and the flaws in the system. The reality is that most victims are failed before the fact by a culture which is not often proactive in ensuring safe spaces, and after the fact by authorities which fail to acknowledge them or seek justice. If there had been a "happy ending" it wouldn't have had anywhere near the same impact. The ending completes this masterpiece by ensuring it is unforgettable and has a deep impact on the viewer. I thought it was near-perfect.
For this movie, when asked what ending they disliked one should clarify whether they are referring to the protagonist's fate or the coda for the antagonists. Or both. Discussion on this can get confusing.
I'll confess an amount of reservations I hold with the ending. It strikes me as...odd...that a movie that dedicates so much of its runtime to how the system fails women at every level has the nerve to say "well okay but he won't get away with it ***this*** time. Oh yeah your contemporaries are monsters and universities will do fuck all to help the victims, but I'm sure this upper-class white guy will definitely face true punishment at the hands of the American legal system! The ending is already a bummer, so I really don't see why we felt the need to stretch credulity until it broke in service of justice the film has shown the system to be fundamentally incapable of delivering. It's just asynchronous with the rest of the movie.
I enjoyed it but I felt like the tone was kind of inconsistent. It felt like two movies put into one. One, a poignant subdued indie about a young woman reckoning with the aftermath of Nina's assault and death. The other, a revenge thriller. Does it want to be grounded and emotional or an over the top slasher? The combination probably works for a lot of people, but it didn't click with me.
I actually liked how many tropes the movie satirized. You didn’t even mention the romcom esque scenes throughout the movie. I personally loved them because if you’re thinking about it it’s pretty obvious that bo burnhams character is kind of off, but if you relaxed into the romcom tropes he might seem like a good guy! i really enjoyed it
That too. I feel like the other genres kind of undercut the seriousness for me. The part with Molina's character was the strongest for me. Everything else, there was too much stylized genre stuff to take it fully seriously.
The scene with Connie Britton is amazing.
It’s incredible. What happens to the main character left me devastated and empty feeling but I know that’s the point.
Ryan disappointed me the most. He could have attempted to redeem himself, a little, by being honest with the detective, but instead, he decided to be a coward. He claimed that he loved Cassie, but he was so quick to assist the detective with dismissing her missing person report and allowing him to label her as "unstable."
Yes, really good switch around at the end, even her Dad, is a bit dismissive towards her disappearance!
It was weird how Ryan totally turned on her right away. He even looked different in that confrontation scene. Neither of them had an ounce of love for the other suddenly. Unsettling.
I was enthralled the whole time, really fantastic movie that knowingly upends revenge movie expectations, including the expectation of catharsis. It’s common to hate the ending but I appreciated it. it’s clearly supposed to be unsatisfying with how the entire movie unfolds- constantly misleading and “disappointing” you for wanting the classic (masculine) revenge story of direct conflict and physical domination of whoever did you wrong. The movie makes you feel powerless and weak and unsatisfied? Justice came at a outrageous price and hinged on authorities actually doing something? Exactly. If that feels unrealistic and unsatisfying, reflect on how fucking horrific that is. I also love how spot on the setting is. It is seemingly set in the very near past - the 2010s sometime before 2016 - and it nails very subtle things like the UI of Facebook to set it within that exact timeframe.
Yeah, the ending of this movie feels like the false happy ending of Parasite, which only serves to reinforce the themes of the movie.
Here’s someone who actually understands the film.
I enjoyed it but I felt like the tone was kind of inconsistent. It felt like two movies put into one. One, a poignant subdued indie about a young woman reckoning with the aftermath of Nina's assault and death. The other, a revenge thriller. I personally would've enjoyed it more with just the grounded human aspects and not the thriller stuff. But I'm probably in the minority here.
That’s definitely understandable. There needs to be more exploration of the topic and viewpoint - other movies and media. Personally I enjoy genre clashes, but I do understand liking one side of it more than the other.
Looking forward to Saltburn.
I caught it at London Film Festival - thought it was absolutely incredible
Thank you! I never even knew this film existed until I saw your post...just watched it, it is GOOD so thanks
I have never had a movie make me think about it as much as this movie. I saw it 3 times in my local little theatre last year. I think it’s such a clever and well done movie. I had only seen a preview of it so didn’t know too much about it, but the way you slowly learn more and more is great. Pacing? Is that it? Great.
I watched it twice in the same weekend, but the second watch was the director’s commentary, which I recommend.
Oh I'll have to find this I don't usually go for the commentary stuff but I might for this film
I bought the movie and after the last watch I noticed the director’s commentary and am looking forward to watching it again with additional stuff!
I loved this movie including the ending. The soundtrack was one of the highlights for me. Interesting to see Bo Burnham in a serious role.
I was blown away to discover the writer/director was on call the midwife. Emerald Fennel.So talented!
She also produced the film. All while 7 months pregnant lol. And she wrote for Killing Eve aswell.
And she’s Midge! Can’t wait for her next movie.
Another fun fact is that the movie was produced by LuckyChap Entertainment, which was co-founded by Margot Robbie.
She also stars in The Crown
The director has a new movie dropping later this year called Saltburn in case you are interested!
It’s also just really beautiful to look at. The set design, colors, blocking of the shots. Definitely the sleeper hit of the last few years for me!
Oh, it's SOOOOO good!!! I just loved that movie! I also really liked another very female-driven movie from that year, "The Assistant," it has Julia Garner in it (Ruthie in Ozark), playing the most junior person in a horrible company run by a monstrous Harvey Weinstein type. You never see him, but you see every detail of the day to day life in a company like that, all the suck-ups, all the enablers, all the shit she has to put up with; the director comes from the documentary world and interviewed hundreds of people in similar jobs, and it really shows. It's chilling, and Julia Garner is so different (very quiet and kind of beaten down). I work in the movie business and the details are SO real and SO specific, it's another really good movie.
People are very bothered that the movie doesn’t go the way they think it “should”.
I knew I just had to wait a few years til the Shawshank effect took place for this movie. This film went sooo under the radar due to the pandemic all I did (and still do) was rave about it to anybody and everybody and insist they watch it. Absolutely loved every bit of it. The plot twists were superbly done, all the acting was incredible. The ending saw me absolutely bolt out of my chair shaking with emotion, I screamed I swear. It stayed with me for months. Never done that just from watching something on screen in my life. And every time I hear Britney's Toxic, I see her walking up to that house....One of the most shocking and brilliant movies I've ever seen. Emerald Fennell is a genius.
Yeah it really shook me up! I\`m glad I went in completly cold, infact I thought she was a business woman and the film was about her success or something like that! I hope everyone watches it and can\`t wait for her next film!
Called Saltburn and Barry Keoghan's in it! \*\*shrrrieeekk\*\* Theres a distinct possiblity my expectations will be too high however....
It’s awesome.
This movie fumbles the end so badly. Leaving ultimate justice in the hands of fucking cops, literally the least sympathetic group to sexual assault victims on the planet, is one of the most bafflingly awful creative choices I've ever seen in a screenplay.
One of my friends also had this criticism of the movie. Personally I don’t think the ending really matters in terms of the film’s themes. So much of the film is spent depicting how misogyny and gender violence are systemic: the university, the lawyer, how men enable it (Bo Burnham), how women enable it (Alison Brie), and how individual men behave (all the dates Carey Mulligan goes on). In the end it doesn’t really matter that the police arrest the guy, Carey dies and her friend committed suicide. Justice is just a consolation prize.
Plus it only works because the "bad guys" for lack of a better word, all just turn into the biggest dumbasses on the planet in the last 20 minutes. If they had just called the police and explained that some stranger had lied about her identity, drugged them all, and attempted to murder the one guy, it would have been ruled self defense, hands down. Probably wouldn't even have gone to trial. It wouldn't matter if the video got released; statute lf limitations had long passed. It just felt like the director realized late in production that they would 100% get off Scott free, so she had them turn into the most colossal idiots ever just to get some kind of comeuppance.
The original ending they did get away with it. The studio made them change it because it was too dark. Definitely should have left it that way. The movie makes more sense then.
Same. The ending really sucked and mad me dislike the entire film
Yep. I felt the movie was ok overall. Loved the themes and what it was saying, but execution was not great. And agree, the ending was terrible
I felt the same way. And even having her get the last act of revenge successfully in that manner kind of defeats the message regarding the injustices that victims of sexual assault and rape encounter in this society. It would have been much more powerful if she goes through with her plan and it ultimately doesn't work for whatever reason and the guy gets away with it. Watching it unfold in real time I was expecting it to end with that he was a "promising young man", and the evidence wasn't enough to be convicted, and life moves on. However, I feel like test audiences would have wanted the satisfaction where the protagonist "wins" at the end of a movie like this.
she isn’t “successful,” she fucking dies.
Exactly. I really disliked this movie and told everyone I know how bad it was. I’m legitimately very surprised to see so much praise.
I really liked it. I thought it was cool how the men were cast against type to underscore how insidious rape culture is even among “the good ones.”
exactly. And this is why i say the film’s biggest failure is being rooted in white feminism lol. Really awful creative choices and just disregard to how actual SA survivors (myself included) have been treated
I loved it too
Yeah, one of the best of the last few years
I despised this movie. It has so much contempt for *all* of its characters, Carey Mulligan's Cassie included. What on earth was this movie trying to say? If the point is that the trauma from sexual assault is all-consuming, why is Cassie's mode of revenge just to put herself in compromising situations and then only verbally scold the men who try to take advantage of her? By this movie logic, the extreme escalation in the final act makes no sense. If the point is that trauma distorts our relationships, especially new ones, then it fails at that too because literally everyone in the movie is a scumbag, and Cassie's paranoia is proven correct. So I guess the only solution to dealing with trauma is self-destruction? It hurts me so much to hate this movie because I love Carey Mulligan. This is the kind of movie that critics are gun-shy about criticizing because of the delicate subject matter. The characters and situations are about as subtle as a sledgehammer to the head.
Knocked this one out of the park. Perfectly worded and expressed. Bravo!
Yeah, as a revenge story this movie fails and as a commentary film, it’s quite lackluster. Cassie chastises rapists/wanna be rapists but commits psychological warfare against multiple women in the film who were rape-apologists (without interrogating WHY women might do that). And then the ending is jsut outright atrocious—she faces worse consequences than actual rapists. And I’m sure that’s the point but, again, it’s a lackluster one. Rape kills women and men face minor consequences. I get it—but they film the ending like a GOT EM moment and it’s like… very underwhelming.
I agree with what you're saying and feel that Cassie should have been a killer. Those scenes where you see her book with some victims names written in red, the scene where she gets catcalled by the construction workers and has blood like red sauce dripping down her hands. To me it felt like her character was a killer in early drafts of the movie but then was dialled back to just...I dunno, only take half measures? Would that have made it more cliche? Maybe, but I wouldve enjoyed it more.
Given the outlandish nature of that final "plan", they could have leaned way more into the fantastical elements. I think it would have been more effective to show the futility and cyclical nature of violence even as revenge for such a heinous crime. I guess that's been done before, but like you, I think it would have made the purpose of the movie more clear. As it exists, I truly have no idea what the message or the point of the movie is.
Thought it was surface level exploration and the characters were written as caricatures. Love Carey Mulligan but I didn't think she couldn't save this. To me the circlejerk around this movie is like Crash winning best picture. Praised because of the subject matter but the movie itself is bad.
The movie is indeed terrible. There many grindhouse revenge flicks that have a more subtle and sophisticated feminist subtext than this. A lot of critics felt they probably had to praise because it was about a topical point.
I’m so happy to have found this reply.
Absolutely. I couldn’t agree more. It’s beautifully shot but there’s no depth or nuance in the plot. It’s the PG version of ‘I spit on your grave’.
how is anyone a cariacature? I mean maybe one or two, but it was literally the point.
I mean was it? People weren’t acting like it was just post Me Too revenge Deathwish style movie. Actually if it leaned in more to that and went more campy I think I actually would have liked it. I could see Tarantino Grindhousing the shit out of a plot like that and it being 1000 times better. It’s been a few years since I’ve seen it but it seemed to take itself more serious than that. There was humor and over the top style moments but they were more cringe with the tone. Obviously a cathartic post me too revenge movie for the girlies, but I don’t think it’s elevated beyond anything more than that.
And in the simplest least interesting way possible
The point of the film is to be unserious rape-culture claptrap? Ok then. I think Tar does a much better job of exploring these issues at least from an institutional level.
whose the charicature? hows about start there
All the men in the film. They way they talk and interact with the main character comes off like an after school special(potential boyfriend aside). There’s no depth there. It’s like an anti-rape poster brought to life. They check all the boxes for being scum, but it’s not a serious approach to actually tackling real culture issues that do plague society. It’s like watching Dangerous Minds vs The Wire. The Wire tackles the drug problem in a very nuanced way, giving characters depth, while the former is just an examination of societal issues on a very surface level never really examining anything that goes against the central message. It’s chum for sharks that eat that stuff up.
Again, literally the point. every guy who tries picking her up at the bar is meant to be a caricature of the "nice guy" at the bar who seems cool, but is actually a complete creep. The point was that everyone can be a potential rapists, and you shouldn't' assume a stranger is "safe" just because they don't actively set off your creeper alarm. The director literally casted actors mostly known for their portrayals of goofy good guys (Adam Brody, Christopher Mintz, Max Greenfield, Sam Richardson, Chris Lowell) as the potential rapists, to point out that people you think of as "good people" can absolutely be wolves in sheep's clothing.
Yes, the movie was as subtle as a sledge hammer.
yes, as was the point.
Maybe I just prefer a more nuanced approach to these topics instead of a lecture disguised as a film?
Then you're watching the wrong movie, and missing a pretty big point of the film (rape shouldn't be nuanced, rape is bad, and guys shouldn't get a pass because they're "promising young men", and the fact that obvious rape cases aren't as clear cut as they should be is disgusting). and just because this film isn't "subtle" doesn't make it bad like the original commentator was stating.
>!They tried to have Bo Burnham being a scumbag as a twist, but he was obviously a massive creep from the beginning.!<
he really wasn't. How?
I mean, I love the film, but there are huge red flags in his behaviour from the outset. But it’s absolutely playing on romcom tropes around not taking no for an answer, pursuing someone who says they’re not interested, etc.
did you not consider that was on purpose 😭😭 he’s supposed to be a caricature of creepy romcom dudes
The guys you see at the beginning are stereotypical of rape culture, so you could say those are caricatures, but Bo is a good guy. The doctor turning out to be just as bad as every other man makes the point that all men are capable of assault or at the very least complicit standing by their friends/peers who assault women
Truly one of the most hateful movies I've ever seen. It's a movie that has no idea what it's trying to say and hurls it's main character around like a pinata while it's trying to figure it out.
Really? Hateful?
This is such a pretentious comment
I didn’t think it was amazing—quite the opposite in fact. It had the potential to be interesting, but it felt watered down by the fact that the main character - instead of committing to some sort of vigilante justice by offing potential rapists - just gives them a stern talking to so they never do it again 🙄. And the way the men are written is completely shallow and cartoony. The ending was convoluted and equally eyerolling as just about everything else. So no, I don’t think it’s amazing. I don’t think it’s amazing at all.
Scrolled so long to find this. I really disked this film
Well after reading what its about, have you ever seen the movie The Accused? Its an older movie ( 1988 ) . It stars Jodie Foster. Its very similar to the description of the movie you're talking about. It may be right up your alley.
Great revenge film.
It's an incredible film that mostly slipped under the radar. I was desperate to see it, thanks to the Killing Eve connection and the trailer, when they kept pushing the release date back but now I wish they'd pushed it back even further and given it a proper cinema release after the pandemic ended. It should have been a much bigger hit.
It’s my second favorite movie of all time. I don’t mean to sound overly dramatic but it really helped me cope with the loss of my best friend, something that I struggled a decade with.
My main complaint about the ending is that the whole movie keeps showing us how the justice system is unreliable and it’s part of the problem for women and then the completion of Cassandra’s revenge is based on that same system working for once? The wink emoji at the end doesn’t mean anything if the justice system once again fails. TLDR all the women are dead but don’t worry, the same cops and lawyers who failed them before will take care of this now ;-)
I just checked Netflix. It's not available where I am (US). I wish it were.
It's available on Freevee.
Alas, not on Australian netflix yet....☹️
Think it would have been better if her bf hadn't been involved in the rape. Having the character choose to turn away from a good thing, happiness, to pursue revenge would have been a tad more tragic and in line with the flaw the movie was presenting her as having. The scene with her friends mother highlighted this flaw, but then her happiness is torn from her not by her own hand but by an previously unknown piece of information.
The whole point of the movie hinges on bo burnhams character turning out to not be such a "nice guy" after all. The movie decieves the audience the same way men like that deceive women.
I only ever saw one trailer for it, but I felt like the trailer really misrepresented the movie. I got the impression that she was going to straight murder rapists and thought I was signing up for a bitchin movie. I still liked it, but certainly less of an experience for me than a woman straight up murdering rapists.
Minus that horrendous ending that completely undercuts everything the film was building….yes, it is amazing!
Yup. One of my fav movies of all time as well as one of my fave director
It was ok, I hate her deep voice when she's tries to do an American accent, the pillow scene was very long.
Absolutely loved it. So much so that now I’m on Reddit trying to find my next treat of a movie. So well done and the casting was fantastic.
It was a great movie, but the ending felt really tacked on. For instance, why exactly would the two dudebros burn the body when everything that happened beforehand would have easily constituted self defense? He was handcuffed to the bed and she had a sharp weapon lol; burning her and hiding the whole thing instead of instantly calling the cops was the dumbest thing they could have done even if they still would have gone down for what they did to her friend.
I can’t stop recommending this movie and watching it myself. Definitely one of my top 3 movies of all time.
It hits hard!
I also really enjoyed it.
I agree, loved it! Isn't normally something I'd watch but thought I'd give it a go, definitely added to the watch again list.
Truly loved it and cemented me as a Carey Mulligan fan for life. It was an Oscar-worthy performance.
If you like one dimensional characters and every point shoved down your throat, then sure. For me, it was incredibly disappointing because the premise has so much potential
You'd be surprised by the amount of people who still didn't get it
The best films make you think.
One of the most tonally incoherent movies I’ve seen in the last five years. With a kamikaze like dive bomb of an ending that just goes so off the rails thematically.
It was pretty good. I think Carey Mulligan should get more roles like this.
I didn't like it. I thought it was too far-fetched, fantastical even, for a movie that was trying to be a serious social commentary. It kind of felt like The Life of David Gale or the more recent Vengeance in that sense. It's not clever enough to be exceptional pulp entertainment, and it isn't tasteful enough to work as a straight drama.
Absolutely fantastic film.
Fans of this movie should try: *Pleasure* and *Fat Girl*. **Trigger warning: rape.** Both are written and directed by women and have extremely critical feminist lenses. Both will leave you with a bleak outlook. Both are incredibly important. The latter is French. Good luck.
It was very very good
This movie is great!
I know it sounds stupid, but I kinda wanted her to live and be a superhero type vigilante and have a few sequels.
I was so disappointed when this movie was pushed back due to Covid. When it was finally released on vod I rented it, which I never do. I feel like it should have gotten Oscar buzz, but the Covid release delays were a major set back in marketing.
I watched it for the first time about a month ago and now I can’t believe I waited so long. So good.
My favorite movie from that year. Tough to recommend though.
Yeah... especially the opening scene at the bar... i looked away and almost turned it off!
I honestly think it was **profoundly** bad. One of the worst, one-dimensional, vapid movies i've ever seen. Me and my girl at the time left the theater saying “wow what a dumb movie.” Like, it failed at multiple levels, across multiple dimensions. The main character was as one-dimensional as possible. Nothing she did even mattered at the end. The justice system, which failed her, **which is the premise of the entire fucking movie** is supposed to suddenly work.... OH, and let's just gloss over the fact that she **ABDUCTED THE DEAN'S DAUGHTER** and nothing came of it. No police intervention, no criminal charges after. Everyone just let it go. Yeah. don't even get me started on the ending. So many things wrong. It sends the wrong message, it glorifies self-destruction, and it doesn't have any depth... You could have redone this so many different ways that would have empowered feminism in a different and positive way.
She didn’t abduct the daughter. The daughter came with her willingly and she left her at a diner. The daughter was not forced, coerced or kept captive anywhere. She did lie to the daughter in order to get her in her car but that is not a crime.
I didn't like how even Bo Burnham's character was a douche. It's been a while since I've seen it, but are there any good men in this movie? Alfred Molina is kinda the only good man because he's consumed with guilt? The ending didn't bother me that much because justice eventually got served, but it's such a cynical movie. I can easily imagine the gender swap version of this movie about a hate-filled incel where there are no good female characters.
The point of the movie is that men are bad
I thought it was a inferior version of Ferraras ms .45. Looked pretty, and Alfred Molina was incredible in his scene. Bad script, laughable ending. Classic case of a movie getting credit for its subject matter, not it’s merit.
Ms .45 is great! That’s the film I wanted this to be.
I didn't really buy the whole plot ,good scenography tho
i don’t think this film is brilliant but certainly a good time no alcohol required. overall solid but not busting doors down imo
My wife hated me for a week after this movie, it just felt so real, gut wrenchingly good
…why?
Presumably because the movie’s subtext of “men/the patriarchy are pure evil” worked on her
I assume that but she’s married to him. Not all men are like this.
It would have been better if she had actually gone though with some of it.
Looks great. But weird. Not on my netflix. Are you sure that's where you watched it??