“Promising Young Woman” is one helluva debut feature. The first film from actress and former “Killing Eve” showrunner Emerald Fennell is a sharp, stylish take on rape culture and is frankly one of the most cathartic movies I’ve seen in a long time. It is itself a great film, and signals amazing work to come from rising multi-hyphenate Fennell.

Carey Mulligan stars as Cassie, a young woman who left med school years earlier after a mysterious incident. By day, she’s a bored barista with few personal connections. By night, she goes to clubs, pretends to be drunk, and teaches the predatory men who take her home a lesson about consent. One day, she encounters a former classmate, Ryan (Bo Burnham), is reminded of her time in school, and decides to do something about all the anger she’s been carrying with her since.

The pleasure of “Promising Young Woman” is in its many reveals, so I don’t want to give too much away. I will say that Cassie goes on a journey of revenge while allowing herself to get closer to Ryan, the first time she’s let a new person into her life in many years. She begins to open up emotionally, and realizes that her longtime rage has taken quite a toll.

What makes this film feel so radical is its honesty about rape culture, misogyny, and how all-encompassing they are. Men are the perpetrators in “Promising Young Woman,” but the women aren’t automatically given a pass. In the movie, as in life, we see women defending sexual abusers, blaming victims, and enabling a system that preys upon them. It’s no wonder Cassie is so pissed — how could she not be?

“Promising Young Woman” — similar to “I May Destroy You” — feels like one of the great pieces of art to come out of the #MeToo era. With a righteously furious protagonist and a candidness about sexual violence and complicity, it’s the feminist thriller we’ve been waiting for.

“Promising Young Woman” is now in theaters. Find screening info here.