Promising Young Woman is one of the most talked about films of the year so far. Nominated for five Oscars - including Best Director for Emerald Fennell and Best Actress for An Education's Carey Mulligan - it's the perfect film for now, a biting look at consent and how women are treated when some men think that no one else is watching. Critics are raving about it and the award nominations keep coming. But there's one problem. If you're in the UK, you still haven't seen it.
Promising Young Woman was due for release last year before lockdown led to the closure of cinemas worldwide. Things went back to normal in time for a US release on Christmas Day, with a UK premiere scheduled for February. But that month came and went, with the UK firmly stuck at home. When will it be available here? April 16th! On Sky Cinema and Now UK. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, but we truly can't wait.
As well as Carey in the lead role of Cassandra, a young woman whose love of bright colours and nostalgic style veils deep grief, the film also stars The OC's Adam Brody, Bo Burnham, Legally Blonde's Jennifer Coolidge and GLOW's Alison Brie. It was produced by LuckyChap Entertainment, the production company co-owned by Margot Robbie. Its subject matter - Cassandra feigns extreme drunkenness, waits for a man to take advantage, then strikes via acts of revenge - has proved impactful, and divisive. There was a row in the US after a male critic questioned Carey's suitability for the role, and it even caused conflict at the first screening Emerald - who is best known for playing Camilla in series 3 and 4 of The Crown - sat in.
'During one of the scenes, a fight started between two audience members,' she told IndieWire. 'My producer told me afterwards it was that one person was very angry about a scene, and the other person was saying, "Well, if you don’t like it, you don’t have to watch it," or "If you don’t like it, you can leave" or "If you didn’t like it, you can sit down." It was quite visceral and that was quite shocking because obviously I wanted to make a film that was thought-provoking that people talk about, but I wasn’t expecting that.'
These five Oscar nominations, as well as a few BAFTA nods, are the icing on the cake for the woman who first visualised the film back in 2017.
'What I’ve been trying to do this year is really detach myself from it and just say I made the thing that I wanted to make and was lucky enough to do that,' Emerald says. 'It was close to the thing as I’d hoped it would be. Some people won’t like it, or some people will disagree with parts of it, but that’s okay. If you don’t want people to have a reaction at all, you make a different kind of film. I wanted to make a film that meant something to me and meant something to other people.'
We're sure we'll love it.
When is Promising Young Woman out in the UK?
April 16th, on Sky Cinema and NOW.
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