The Art of the Subtle Ending

Just minutes before the end of the film, I had high hopes for Promising Young Woman, the 2020 film that is a big screen embodiment of the ‘Me Too’ movement. It seemed that Hollywood might, for once, allow a film with a truly unsatisfactory ending. The film is a revenge story of a woman whose friend was not listened to when she reported a rape, which ultimately destroyed not only her own life but that of her best friend’s as well. What more powerful commentary could there have been to allow the film’s protagonist, seeking justice for her friend, to fall short? However, as the shocking penultimate scene ended, the Hollywood ending followed, and justice did indeed prevail. Perhaps the final scene was needed to give viewers a sense of justice served. But as a piece of art, it missed a golden opportunity to show a message that presumably the filmmakers were trying to convey: Those in power will abuse it and get away with it.