July 30 is International Friendship Day.
The dictionary definition of a friend is someone we have “mutual affection for” who is not family or a romantic interest. We all have different kinds of friends, and friends in varying degrees. From somebody whose company you enjoy, or the one you can call on in a pinch to get you out of a bind.
Hopefully you’ve never needed one to get rid of a body.
In “Promising Young Woman,” Cassie Thomas (Carey Mulligan) seems like a regular 30-year old single woman: a business owner of a coffee shop, being nagged by her parents about who she’s seeing– a few years after dropping out of medical school.
Her reason for dropping out was in no way performance-related, as she and her best friend, Nina Fisher,proved to be top students among their peers. Until one night, inebriated at a party, Nina was raped by one of their classmates, Al Monroe (Chris Lowell), eventuallyleading to the suicide of this promising young woman.
IMDB/Promising Young Woman
Cassie feels guilt for not being with Nina the night of the attack, and turns into a vigilante at night, acting inebriated and going home with random men, testing each of them if they would take advantage of a drunk woman-- “punishing” them if they did, and letting them go if they didn’t.
And of course, recording the results in a notebook.
This revenge thriller not only revolves around the heavy topics of consent, toxic masculinity, and gender-based violence, but a major theme that didn’t seem to belong, like a flower that bloomed in the middle of dry, arid land, is the enduring power of friendship.
IMDB/Promising Young Woman
Cassie’s parents are understandably concerned about the well-being of their daughter, who not just dropped out of medical school, but seems to have put her life on hold after her best friend’s death.Unbeknownst to them are her night missions and her plan for the ultimate vengeance upon Cassie’s rapist, who was now a successful doctor engaged to be married to a model.
Nina’s mother, Mrs. Fisher,has also noticed this, and asks her to move on, because that would be best for all of them.
Cassie and Mrs. Fisher reminisce about Nina
IMDB/Promising Young Woman
Cassieputs a stop to her revenge plan, gives a normal life a try, and realizes she could actually be happy. She starts dating Ryan (Bo Burnham), a pediatric surgeon she went to medical school with, enjoys time with her friends at the coffee shop, and so on.
IMDB/Promising Young Woman
Until a video surfaces of the rape of her best friend and she discovers Ryanwas a bystander to the horrific ordeal.
And with this, she proceeds with her plan.
IMDB/Promising Young Woman
Cassie puts her life at risk, crashing Al’s bachelor’s party disguised as a stripper, to carry out her revenge.
If Nina were alive, she would have probably stopped her friend.
She would have probably asked her to move on, too.
But she wasn’t.
Some friends are good influences and truly care about you, while some can be the opposite.
Take the case of Joe (Max Greenfield), Al’s best friend.
He comforts Al, fresh from a crime, repeatedly saying that it wasn’t his fault.
IMDB/Promising Young Woman
Wouldn’t you prefer a friend who called you on your crap before it was too late?
A lifelong friendship with Joe proves to be toxic to Al’s character, who seemed to be a normal, albeit entitled young man, and ends up a criminal.
IMDB/Promising Young Woman
Not to mention, Joe abandons Al when he needed him the most.
IMDB/Promising Young Woman
The ending is a disheveled mess and the revenge not grand enough to satisfy everyone—but it felt a lot more real. A lot like how Cassie is portrayed.
A lot like how most cases of sexual violence end.
But it’s certainly an unexpectedly entertaining and educational watch, and again, a story of friendship’s triumph and tragedy.
IMDB/Promising Young Woman
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