By Randi Altman

Emerald Fennell’s film Promising Young Woman can be hard to describe. “Disturbing” might be the first word that comes to mind, but it’s so much more than that — in fact, it’s essentially many types of movies in one. It begins as a revenge drama that turns into a romantic comedy and evolves from there. And the changes are beautifully subtle.

The film stars Carey Mulligan as Cassie, an obsessed young woman seeking revenge for her friend’s death by putting herself in harm’s way, tempting men who are prone to take advantage of a compromised young woman.

Editor Frédéric Thoraval

Promising Young Woman was written and directed by Fennell and deftly edited by Frédéric Thoraval, who received his first Oscar nomination for his work as well as an ACE Eddie and BAFTA nomination.

This was Thoraval’s first collaboration with Fennell, whom he met a month before the shoot began. He describes that meeting as less an interview and more a conversation about the movie. He knew then that the two were meant to work together. Let’s find out more… (Warning: Potential spoilers ahead.)

When were you brought on the film?
I received the script through my agents. Attached to it was a mood board with visual references and a playlist that included all the songs Emerald was referencing in the script. Everything was very precise and detailed.

It was intriguing and exciting to discover the world that she had put together. It’s a powerful and meaningful story with multiple sublayers … the kind of movie you know you have to be part of, whatever it takes. And Carey Mulligan was already attached to the movie, which made it even more exciting.

Were you keeping up with camera?
Yes, I was trying to. I started on the first day of the shoot, and we were able to stay as close as possible to camera and had a few back-and-forth conversations with the set.

There was a special feeling of being on a team … something in the way the shoot was happening, the relationships we had with the different departments and with production. It felt different. It was nice to feel that everybody was putting all their energies to serve Emerald’s vision.

Were you near set, on set?
Most of the shoot was done in and around LA. We were cutting at Pivotal Post in Hollywood. I went on set a couple of times to talk with Emerald. Although, funny story: On the very first day of the shoot, I arrived on set by chance. I had an early coffee meeting in town and was walking to the bus stop to go to the cutting room. On the same sidewalk, I saw a set, and it was them! It was fun to meet with all the crew like this. The stars were aligned since day one.

Frédéric Thoraval’s Media Composer setup

How often were you showing Emerald cuts?
We were sending her scenes regularly so she could see how it was going, but we had a very short schedule — they shot for 23 days, and those days were quite intense for her. The time was so tight, and the nature of the script was making them change locations almost every day.

How would you describe the pace of the film?
The script was very clear in terms of the different genres Emerald wanted to play with — the different tones every scene should have. So it was important every day to feel the flow of the dailies and the flow of the performances, especially Carey’s. She was our “North Star.” Cassie is the one who guides us in this story that is unravelling slowly.

The script has an unusual structure; you don’t truly know what the trauma is that led her to want to take revenge, and you never know what to expect in the next scene, what you will learn, who you will meet — sometimes it’s a new and important character for just one scene.

From the very beginning of the movie, we tried hard to establish a strong connection with Cassie, and to keep that emotional connection with the audience until the end. If you have that, you can accept everything — the twists and turns, the changes of tones and of paces and be with her on this emotional rollercoaster.

At times, Cassie is almost a different character — when she’s out of control or when she’s happy with Ryan. Did that affect the way you worked?
These different personalities were crucial for the way the scenes were evolving, for the change of tones. Again, Cassie is showing us the way, and her mood reflects the type of genre we are in. She meets and falls in love with Ryan in a rom-com, and everything is peppier — the picture, the costumes, her hair, the pace of the cut is closer to a comedy, the songs you hear. Carey’s performance and the elements that all the departments put together were helping us to create Cassie’s world and to follow her.

In the Madison lunch scene, even if we are in a conversation that started on a light note, with some elements of comedy brought by Alison Brie’s acting, we are more on the thriller side with Cassie. The setup of the champagne glass at the start of the scene, her costume and hair/makeup are “business as usual,” the high-end restaurant, the light … everything helps us be in that genre.

Editing-wise, we enter into a confrontational face to face, with an ominous score — the way the conversation shifts from normal to tense, the way the power shifts from Madison to Cassie. What we learn takes us into a darker scene that ends on a menacing note.

We were adapting to the type of genre that was set up and going from one direction to another by following Cassie’s changes. For example, the scene with Adam Brody at the very beginning of the movie — he is one of the “nice” guys she meets. When you are in the car with them, the Spice Girls “2 Become 1” song is in the background, and suddenly you are in a rom-com. But when we get to his apartment, it switches to something more unsettling before finishing with the signature of a horror movie. And this happens in the course of only four minutes. 

Can you talk about any challenges that popped up?
Having a 23-day shoot and three weeks of prep was challenging. So, of course, we were limited with the material we could use in the cutting room. We didn’t have the same latitude that you might have on a blockbuster or even on a 50-day shoot. So when we were adjusting the structure, there were sometimes some ripple effects (like missing links), and we had to find ways to tell the story with the elements we had. We repurposed shots from different scenes and tweaked them. I think we used almost every single piece of material that was shot.

Director Emerald Fennell is pictured center on set

We didn’t do major structural changes like, “Oh, I’m taking the end and putting it at the beginning,” because the structure was there, and it was already working. But one of the challenges was to play with the flow and make sure we were always connected with Cassie and following exactly what she was feeling.

Can you talk about the importance of the film’s songs to the story and the editing?
It was very exciting for me to play with the songs that were in the script — and a lot of them are now in the movie. Those songs were part of the DNA of the movie, almost part of the footage, and we had to play with them because without those songs — Britney Spears’ “Toxic,” the Wagner or the Paris Hilton song, for example — the movie wouldn’t be the same. They help the audience to get into Cassie’s mind and to keep the connection with her.

Whereas score could be shaped to create a transition between two very different emotional states, here we had to adjust the cut to find the best way to lead into those existing songs. Adjusting the cut allowed the flow of the movie to be the best it could be. We used all the tools we had to create transitions that were as seamless as possible.

We worked a lot with sound supervisor Frederic Dubois early in the editing process. We used a specific plugin that helped us to simulate the changes of perspective in the music. It could be used to bridge two scenes by keeping the same song playing and adjusting the way the music is changing from one space to another (from the background in the coffee shop to her computer in her bedroom, for example).

Or when she’s in the car after the Dean scene. You’re in her head, with muffled music and sound that switches to the space of the scene (it was like the music was coming from her car’s radio). But when a guy insults her, it takes her back to reality. Then finally, it becomes a full score, following the intensity of her emotional state.

Did you have an assistant editor on this film?
Yes, I worked with Emily Freund, and she was very helpful. Since it wasn’t a big-budget movie, Emily was crucial in the cutting room. She not only assisted, but she did a lot of temp and final VFX and even ended up as an additional editor on the movie, working with me and Emerald to stitch together the best improv lines on a few scenes. We were a small but great team, and God knows how important teamwork is.

How did you pick what scene you sent in for the Oscars?
It was actually a struggle. There are great moments I would love to have used, but they hinge on the evolution of the movie and on the previous scenes. They don’t fully make sense without what led up to them, in terms of story or emotion. And there was an important element to take into account: This movie is by nature full of surprises, so I didn’t want to reveal any major spoilers that could ruin the experience of a first viewer. That limited the scenes we could show. So I decided to go with the Madison scene because it’s the first chapter of Cassie’s revenge and was pretty self-contained.

Do you have any specific layouts in Media Composer, like a special bin setup with selects?
Yes, I have had the same way of working for years. I took that from my French years. I’m working in a bin with thumbnails, with a string-out of all the takes in group clips, if there are any, at the top of the scene. I treat every camera as a setup: You will have all the takes of Shot 1 on Camera A, then all the takes of Shot 1 on Camera B. I call it BAB, which means “bout à bout” in French — “end to end” in English. I know that there will be everything shot for that specific scene in this sequence, including b-roll, no-good shots … any piece of material we shot, intended or not.

Frédéric Thoraval’s board in editing bay

It helps me to visualize the dailies. I don’t use text most of the time. I feel better with pictures than with words. For me, what is important is what I see, and that’s why I use these BAB sequences to watch everything shot and to create my selections. For example, I’m using locators to mark the moments I feel are magical with a magenta locator. The good moments have a blue marker; the great ones are green.

In the timeline I’m using different colors for source music, score music, temp or final or for sound effects.

Finally, any advice for young editors on how not to get pigeonholed into a specific genre?
It’s a tough question; I think it’s difficult not to be. I am pigeonholed, in a way, even if I try to do as many different types of movie as I can.

One of Frédéric Thoraval’s Avid bins on Promising Young Woman

First, it’s important to remember that a scene is a scene. Whatever the type of movie, every scene is based on emotions and what you want to convey through them — whether it’s an action scene or a dialogue scene in a drama or comedy.  Emotions are driving movies, so every editor can edit different genres.

Second, I would say try not to stay in your comfort zone; take some risks and be curious. It can be very tempting to stay in a type of movie where you feel at ease. I don’t like to be in danger, but what excites me is the ability to learn every time — learn on one type of project and use/repurpose this knowledge on another type of project. Meet new authors, serve different visions, whether it’s someone’s first movie or a movie with directors that have 20 films behind them. I think if one day I stop learning, then I will have to change my job, and I hope that day will never come.

Randi Altman is the founder and editor-in-chief of postPerspective. She has been covering production and post production for more than 20 years.