Review by Beatrice On 26-Jun-2023
A promising young woman is the original title from which the translation "promising"; a hopeful young woman who gives good clues for the future, inviting..
On this seemingly superficial and endearing play on words from frivolous and amusing comedy foreshadows the contemporary story of the mythological Cassandra.
Cassie is not coincidentally the Anglo-Saxon diminutive of the same name, the twin sister of Elenus, daughter of Hecuba and Priam, king of Troy, a priestess in the temple of Apollo from whom she had the faculty of foresight, though she refused to give herself to him who, enraged, spat on her lips, condemning her to remain unheard.
Cassie is a victim of this condemnation; she has been violated in psyche and thus in body.
The woman, like the man, is her own body but her body is a different thing from her
In Aeschylus' Agamemnon, Cassandra suffers from the pain of knowing that no one will ever believe her, despite the truthfulness of her prophecies. It is an incredible burden that she carries with the dignity proper to her rank, aware that her gift is nothing but a condemnation.
Cassandra is the victim of shameless, stilted men who do not respect the priestess in the temple, thus sinning Hybris.
Cassie is destined to go unheeded until the ultimate sacrifice.
But she does not give up and by retreating from the life of promise she builds a path to personal justice.
The film begins with a shot on the dock of men dancing in shirts and ties, making vulgar gestures; equally misogynistic language follows at the sight of a drunken woman, easy and tempting prey to lure: Cassie.
Language full of innuendo and justification:
"she looks defiant..."
"they take a big risk with girls like that..."
"it's like a golf course..."
We can give her a ride, "rest assured you're safe..."
Amid comments from workers and motorists under the banner of pervasive, sexist verbal violence, Cassie reacts, she does not suffer; her beloved promising, also, friend Nina Fischer has been violated in intimacy, abused by the pack of her fellow students "guilty" of being drunk.
And Cassie goes on, applying makeup following a tutorial that teaches girls what make-up is for the perfect blow job.
From the nerd who is writing a book about what a man should look like today, to the abusive yes man on duty, she imparts lessons in justice, not revenge.
He does not even spare those women who have shirked their responsibility to protect the rights of their partners, women, friends, colleagues who are victims of a system that justifies the abusive male.
An old college classmate, now a pediatrician woos her and she, after initial reluctance, fear, resistance seems to allow herself to make a new beginning.
As the film seems to veer dangerously toward a romantic romance novel a right hand starts that hits the brave Cassie in the face and along with her the viewer.
The second part begins, divided into chapters, where each one cadences the re-educational function Cassie enacts on those who did not prevent, stood by, allowing the perpetuation of the crime and the omission of the course of justice: from her colleague Madison, to Principal Walker, to those closest to her.
Hilarious scenes, such as the one in which she avenges the sexist insults of a vulgar uncouth driver by smashing his headlights as well as the windows of the van with a tool, are extremely cathartic.
The bachelor party of the protagonist of Nina's rape is approaching, and Cassie hatches a trap that only a mythological figure destined to go unheard can concoct.
As she crosses the threshold of Agamemnon's palace, she is prophesied of her dramatic future. She wishes herself a gentle death, aware that she is going to the sacrificial altar, blameless except for that of possessing a gift, at that moment, useless. The chorus of the tragedy understands at once that Cassandra is a wise and suffering woman. O woman very unfortunate indeed and yet very wise, much thou didst stretch thyself. But if thou truly knowest thy destiny, why, driving a heifer, impelled by a god, daringly do thou move toward the altar?
Cassie like Cassandra represents the forward-looking woman, and for this reason considered mad; like Polyxena and Iphigenia, she reflects the immolation of the female sex as an object, subjugated by the male will, the victim of an ignorant patriarchy and destined to find freedom only when her life is forcibly snatched away.
A promising maiden, intelligent and destined to achieve professional success, condemned, however, in her day, as now, by the rejection of an overbearing sexual exchange decided unilaterally by the illustrious god Apollo, fashionable even for contemporary Cassandras, as a toll on the ability to foreshadow the more or less baleful future.
Cassandra thus becomes the symbol of a truth first rejected and then recognized as such; an oxymoron that embodies both victim and executioner, conciliation and rebellion, love and death, belonging and marginalization.
The total isolation of her experience makes her a paradigmatic figure who encompasses, in her fate, in antiquity as in actuality, all the female voices of Greek and contemporary tragedy.
Emerald Fennell, stands proudly as a champion of the female cause through a transparent, powerful stance that is clear-cut, not misunderstandable or even objectionable if only in substance. A good kick on those soft parts of the testosteronic and headless underbelly.
Chronicle of a justice foretold the one that takes place in five acts where a tough chick like Cassie rips with her colorful nails the look on that male underworld that surprises the Sundance Film Festival 2020.
It arrives in our theaters today after Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Original Screenplay 2021; likewise for Golden Globe and British Academy Film Awards etc.
The mechanism of the film presses on in the form of cinematography, colors, music, and an eccentric and adrenal aesthetic without, however, any restorative consolation: the glittering clothes, psychedelic wigs, and colorful candy awaken the attention of those who overlook reality, those who claim to have done nothing, to have seen nothing, and to avail themselves of the benefit of the doubt.
Cassandra is not what the popular narrative wants her to be, she is not the bearer of evil but prescient and if what she predicts is bad it is not up to her and, whether one listens to her or not, it will happen.
Cassie, the contemporary Cassandra does not accept being unheard and does not organize revenge but arranges for justice to be done both culturally and legally.
A promising, important, disturbing, necessary film.
A film that does not allow one to look away, that admits no alibis, that rumbles in the head, disturbing and invading the body of all who have retained the ability to FEEL.
Man's discovery that his genitals could serve as a weapon to generate fear must be counted among the most important discoveries of prehistoric times, along with the use of fire and the first crude stone axes. From prehistory to the present day, rape has served a critical function. It is neither more nor less than a conscious process of intimidation by which all men keep women in a state of fear
26-Jun-2023 by Beatrice
Emerald Fennell movies
SALTBURN
2023