Today's filmmaker for Female Filmmakers took the world by storm only a few years ago with her debut feature film that she wrote and directed. She even took home an Oscar for it! Let's talk about the quirky actress-turned-writer-and-director, Emerald Fennell.
This English rose was born and raised in Hammersmith, London. The talented young woman always expressed herself creatively. Allegedly, she told her parents when she was a child that she wanted to grow up to write murder mystery stories. The budding writer went to Oxford and discovered that she had other talents as well: acting!
She began her acting career in 2006 and has dabbled in major work here and there. As an actress, she may be best known for playing Camilla Parker Bowles in the Netflix series The Crown. She has also played a role in The Danish Girl, Albert Nobbs, Anna Karenina, and more. She has never shown skin as an actress - in fact, she was quite covered up as Camilla - but she certainly proved herself as a player in British TV and film.
She was an executive producer and a writer for Killing Eve from 2019 to 2020. This puts her working closely with one of her peers, Phoebe Waller-Bridge. I see a lot of similarities between the two women. They are both strong, multi-talented, modern Brits who can write, direct, act, and produce. Both of these women also focus on women's stories that have unhinged female protagonists. Their female characters do not play nice and they do not apologize for that.
She directed a short film called Careful How You Go in 2018 and that was all the warmup she needed to show the world her grand debut: Promising Young Woman. Carey Mulligan stars as a woman who cons men by pretending that she is super drunk when she goes out at bars. They take her home and if they do anything untoward, she reveals that it was a ruse and that she is actually of a very sound mind. It absolutely freaks the guys out!
We find out that she is doing this to get revenge for a friend of hers who was attacked in college. The friend could not handle the trauma and wound up passing away from suicide which has left Carey alone, grieving, and pissed off. When she finds love, however, her anger subsides. But can she actually trust a guy? That is what we see in this colorful, well-acted, and all-around tight film.
Admittedly, it took me a long time to see Promising Young Woman. I was nervous about the hype, so I waited to see it until after it won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. And when I finally saw it? I loved it. I did not expect this film to be SO well-directed either. The shots were beautifully done, complete with color coordination that told a story.
The story went above and beyond the typical female revenge story. There was depth to Mulligan's desire for revenge. She was angry for her friend, but she was also angry for women everywhere - and she becomes angry to the point of not caring what happens to her!
Mulligan is fantastic, too. She plays this role perfectly - to the point that it felt like she was this person. All in all, I was surprised and delighted by how much I loved this film. The only thing that was missing was nudity!
There are two feature films in production currently that Emerald has written: Saltburn and Zatanna. She also directed Saltburn which will star Rosamund Pike, so I am very excited to see how her follow-up to Promising Young Woman goes. Supposedly, Emerald will also return to acting with a small role in the upcoming Barbie movie.
Is there anything that Emerald can't do? I'm rooting for Emerald and I cannot wait to see what else she does for us. If her next film is anything like Promising Young Woman, then we have a major player on our hands here.
