GCSE Film Studies - Focus Film Factsheet

Promising Young
Woman
(Emerald Fennell, 2020)
Component 1: Varieties of film and CORE STUDY AREAS 1: Key elements
filmmaking, Section B: American of film form (micro features)
film 2005+ Cinematography

Core study areas:
• Key elements of form
• Meaning and response
• Contexts
Specialist study areas:
• Spectatorship and ideology
Rationale for study: Promising Young Woman is the
story of the anger, grief and guilt of Cassie, a woman
whose life is torn apart when her best friend Nina is
sexually assaulted at a college party.
• The slow pan up Cassie’s body to her hair (12
mins) fetishises her look of ‘perfection’.
• The camera slowly tracks in when Cassie is
laying her traps, at lunch with Maddison and in
the men’s bedrooms, conveying entrapment.
• There is a similar push in when Cassie is given
the phone, then a push out of her reaction.
Here, the audience are distanced from her in
preparation for her revenge.
Mise-en-scène

The audience is called upon to reflect on what is

culturally and socially acceptable.

Carey Mulligan described the film as ‘A beautifully

wrapped candy, and when you eat it, you realise it’s
poisonous’.
Image by PictureLux / The Hollywood Archive / Alamy Stock
STARTING POINTS - Useful Photo
sequences and timings:
• Cassie uses costume as a weapon and a mask;
Opening scene: 00:00-08:00 her feminine air is her amour.
Rom-com montage: 01:03-01:06 • The outward features of femininity are an
unthreatening ‘day look’ of pastels is a playful
Cassie the nurse: 01:20-01:33
misdirect.

• Cassie’s home and childhood bedroom represent

the outward features of feminine expectations.

• The suitcase is not a particularly subtle message

from her parents for Cassie to leave home.

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• Her notebook is a key prop; the pen strokes
are deep and angry. The book is bound with a
scrunchie, representing a feminine touch.
• The bars are neon-clad enclosed spaces; they are
a trap.
Editing
• The rom-com montage is typical of the genre.
Sound
• The music in Cassie’s first trap is like that of
a horror film, punctured with a heavy ‘beat’ to
break the fourth wall. Who are we supposed to
fear for in this scene – Cassie or Jerry?
• The pop soundtrack is sickly sweet and
juxtaposed with moments of music from the
horror genre; this echoes Cassie’s emotional
state and humour.
Performance
• Fennell casts known lovable male actors as the
‘nice guy’ predators and actresses known for
their loveable characters as the female defenders
of males. By doing this, Fennell turns the girl/
boy-next-door trope on its head.
• There is a fourth wall break (8 mins) that alerts
the audience to Cassie’s awareness and brings us
into her plan; we know that she is sober before
he does.
CORE STUDY AREAS 2: Meaning and
response
Representations
• Our default focus on the male experience
is questioned, as well as our view of how
Hollywood represents seduction. The men repeat
the same lines: ‘You are so pretty/beautiful’,
‘don’t go to sleep’, ‘I’m a nice guy’.
• Cassie benefits from her white privilege as this
allows her to manoeuvre without suspicion.
• Laverne Cox (the first openly transgender actor
to be nominated for an Emmy) plays a slightly
regressive ‘magical black cupcake boss’, Gail,
whose role is to emotionally support Cassie.
• Cassie declares that she does want ‘yoga class,
kids, a job my mom can brag about’ – these are
the usual drives of female characters.
Aesthetics
• Sweet candy pastels suggest this is a film made
with a feminine aesthetic that is sometimes
overwhelming and claustrophobic. It reminds the
audience of pop music videos.
• Angel wings, halos and symbols of the martyr
surround Cassie.
• The aesthetic takes a darker turn once Cassie
hears of Al’s return from London.
CORE STUDY AREAS 3: Contexts
Cultural
• ‘Promising Young Man’ is a phrase often used
in judgements in favour of male perpetrators of
sexual violence, such as Brock Turner in 2016.
Political
• Promising Young Woman was made during the
Trump era and the ‘#metoo’ movement.
• In 2020, the US murder rate increased by 30%.
This was mostly attributed to the emotional
trauma of the pandemic.
Institutional
• The film was funded by LuckyChap
Entertainment, Margot Robbie’s production
company.
SPECIALIST STUDY AREA:
Spectatorship and ideology
• Emerald Fennell wrote and directed Promising
Young Woman. Similar to her other projects such
as Killing Eve, we see the world through the
eyes of a powerful, angry and feminine woman.
This film was made through the female lens and
pen.
• We gaze at Cassie’s feminine appearance
including her hair, nails and dresses. This is
ironic considering we are trained to objectify
women in mainstream cinema.
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 GCSE Film Studies - Focus Film Factsheet
• The ending is surprisingly playful and upbeat as
Cassie wins, leaving the audience to question if
this was her plan all along.
• The ideology that it is the woman’s
responsibility to avoid putting herself in
‘vulnerable’ situations and to not confront the
aggressor is explored.
• Fennell twists the expected process of
recognition, alignment and allegiance. We do not
immediately recognise Cassie as a sympathetic
and receptive female lead. Instead, our
alignment and allegiance with her actions and
morals is complicated by her relationship with
Ryan and his ‘betrayal’.
KEY SEQUENCE ANALYSIS
Cassie the nurse 1:20 - 1:33
• The scene starts with a shot of Cassie
applying lipstick in the car mirror; this is her
mask and armour.
• The party is an all-male environment, much
like the college party where Nina was
attacked.
• The vodka shots are from Cassie’s POV while
the extreme close ups of Cassie are from men;
we are positioned as them and her.
• In real-time, the suffocation lasts a total of
2 ½ mins. This is because Fennell wants the
audience to feel every painful moment.
• The sound becomes muffled as it is from
Cassie’s POV.
• The camera pushes in onto his reaction in a
long take.
• In the morning, a heavenly beam of light
falls on Cassie as she lies with her arms
outstretched in a martyr pose.
• After Cassie dies, we never see her face again;
she is just another faceless victim.
• Al is a ‘promising young man’; he wears the
blue top and khakis of an unthreatening ‘nice
guy’.
Rom-com montage 1:03 - 1:06
• Ryan is too good to be true - a paediatric
surgeon, the display of romantic love, yet his
blue shirts imply he is just another member
of the tribe of men dancing at the opening
sequence.
• The Paris Hilton sugary pop song Stars are
Blind creates a sound bridge, going from a
tinny diegesis of the pharmacy to the non-
diegetic romantic soundtrack we expect in a
rom-com.
• Cassie’s costume is a vibrant pink in this
scene – a symbol of the growing intensity of
her feelings for Ryan.
• The pharmacy is crosscut with moments from
their growing romance.
• The implication is that she is ‘fixed’ now; she
has found a man to love.
Opening scene 0:00 - 8min
• There are hardly any other women in the club.
• The slow-motion dancing is how women are
often filmed in club scenes and music videos,
but it makes the men look ridiculous. A cut
to a long shot, now without slow motion,
highlights the comedy of the moment, which
is juxtaposed with the Thinking about Boys
pop soundtrack.
• ‘Fuck her’ is the first line of the film. Here,
a group of businessmen cannot understand
why a female colleague has complained about
client meetings in a men’s only golf club.
• The dancing men are dressed similarly in blue
shirts and khakis; this is a ‘nice guy uniform’
that is repeated throughout the film.
• Jerry is positioned to be the protagonist in
the first instance, handsome, sympathetic, a
nice guy. Unusually, our recognition of the
protagonist is accompanied with an ominous
tone, as if she is a monster.
• The ominous music returns (8mins) when
Cassie breaks the fourth wall.