Promising Young Woman Director Defends The Film’s Controversial Ending
Warning: SPOILERS for Promising Young Woman.
Emerald Fennell, the director of Promising Young Woman, defends the thriller’s controversial ending. In her feature-length directorial debut, Fennell told the story of Cassie Thomas (Carey Mulligan). Once a medical student with a bright future, Cassie’s life takes a turn when her best friend Nina becomes a victim of rape. Promising Young Woman, ultimately, chronicles Cassie’s journey as she tries to take revenge what happened to her best friend.
The arrival of the film has been anticipated by cinephiles and general moviegoers alike, helped by intriguing trailers and the positive buzz that it has garnered on the way to being released. Now that Promising Young Woman is available on VOD, the movie’s conclusion has stirred up a lot of discussion. In the thriller’s divisive third act, Cassie confronts Al Monroe (Chris Lowell), the man who raped Nina. Through an elaborate ruse, Nina handcuffs Al to a bed. Cassie proceeds to scare him, possibly intending to bleed him open, although it remains unclear if she actually plans to cause him serious physical harm. Al ultimately breaks free. And, in an excruciatingly long scene, Al suffocates Cassie with a pillow. He’d rather kill her than confess to his own wrongdoing. The moment is jarring, clashing with the previous tone of Promising Young Woman. In a new interview, Fennell explains why it couldn’t have gone down any other way.
Speaking to Collider, the director elaborated on the ending of her film by pointing out that the conclusion couldn’t have happened any other way. Fennell, who had been the showrunner for Killing Eve season 2, stressed that it was necessary to show that Cassie’s pursuit of justice for her friend came at a very heavy price. Fennell’s comments have been included below.
“And I think that there was, for me certainly, the other ending would have been Cassie murders everyone and then goes to jail for the rest of her life and lives with that horror. There was no happy ending to this movie. All there is, is somebody who needs to show people, to deliver justice. And she does do that, but at a very, very heavy price. I didn’t believe that a woman of Cassie’s size would be able to physically overpower a very strong man. All of that stuff. And it was important that it interrogated the myth of the revenge journey.”
Fennell’s remarks came as part of a larger response about whether Cassie viewed her confrontation with Al as a suicide mission. The director argues that, though Cassie hadn’t planned on being murdered, she recognized it was a very real possibility. For many who have watched Promising Young Woman, the brutal murder of Cassie doesn’t mesh with the otherwise triumphant tone of the story. Throughout the movie, Cassie confronts famous faces. Starting with Adam Brody, all the way to Max Greenfield, the protagonist wins with a smile and a wink. As this unfolds, Cassie is also in the middle of a charming romcom. Her romance with Ryan (Bo Burnham) comes complete with a nostalgic Paris Hilton pop song and gentle pillow talk. It’s all very familiar. The viewer, like Cassie, is lulled into believing that things might just work out in the end in typical Hollywood fashion.
It’s necessary that things don’t work out. It’s vital for the revenge thriller genre to be interrogated. Although it’s true that Al pays for what he does to Nina in the end, as do others, Cassie isn’t around to see it. She’s murdered, reunited with Nina in death. But, Fennell’s script seems to be saying, neither had to die. Perhaps if Nina had been taken seriously when she came forward saying Al raped her, perhaps if Al had faced consequences early on, Cassie wouldn’t have been so consumed by rage. It isn’t always a fun, empowering emotion. It can lead to devastating consequences. Promising Young Woman shows that beautifully, pulling the rug out from under audiences and leaving a lingering impact.
Source: Collider