Wondering if Promising Young Woman is ok for kids? Promising Young Woman is rated R for language, drug use, and mature content. This thriller gets dark and parents need to know that this films deals a lot with sexual assault. Here’s what parents need to know in this Promising Young Woman Parents Guide.
Promising Young Woman Parents Guide
Nothing in Cassie’s (Carey Mulligan) life is what it appears to be — she’s smart, beautiful, but she’s living a secret double life by night. She was supposed to be a doctor, but now she’s working in a coffee shop. An event from the past haunts her, but when she sees Ryan (Bo Burnham) again, maybe she can right those wrongs from the past and get justice.
Language
Promising Young Woman is heavy on the language. There were about 60 uses of fu–, 5 uses of sh–, 5 uses of a-holes, bi–ches, and also sexual language like c–t, di–, vagina, pu–y, and d-bag. There are also uses of deity like oh g-d and Jesus Christ.
A characters uses the phrase blow job lips.
Mature Content
The whole premise of Promising Young Woman is supposed to be a revenge story. However things take a twisted turn.
The opening shot is of people partying, dancing suggestively, with shots on body parts. Then you see a woman who is drunk and a man try to take advantage of her. Repeat. It’s hard to watch honestly, and for any victim of abuse, this could be a trigger.
A character is shown snorting cocaine and then forcibly puts cocaine on a victim’s teeth.
In some of the encounters, you see men take off a woman’s underwear and look up her legs while she’s drunk.
Characters drink alcohol.
There are many conversations about assault and “boys will be boys” behavior. You see blood on victims and a murder.
Is Promising Young Woman Appropriate for Kids Under 18?
Promising Young Woman forces a conversation on rape culture and shifting the perspective. It does it in a dark way, but this is how lives are effected.
This conversation needs to be had, especially with teens. However, I don’t know that I’d recommend it for them, because the material is so heavy. Some teens are living with that reality, so maybe it will be a wake up call.
Carey Mulligan is ridiculously good as the viewer wonders is Cassie really crazy as she makes a point to every man that tries to take advantage of her while intoxicated, then makes a mark in her notebook when she’s done with them. She goes after every person who had a part in the narrative that led her down this road.
Writer-director Emerald Fennell’s debut is savage. The buildup with the soundtrack delivers punches everywhere, and it had me…right until the end. The ending will be controversial, and I can’t say I’m a fan, but some will be.
