What if the true revenge was the friends we made along the way?
2023, whilst perhaps not the greatest year for LGBTQ+ representation in mainstream cinema, has certainly had its fair share of interesting titles. Queer cinema is all about breaking rules: the anarchic irreverence of Bottoms; the rebellious spirit of Nimona; or the cruel, seductive scheming of Saltburn. It’s clear that audiences love their “bad” gays – whether villains by the standards of a restrictive cis-het society, or individuals with altogether darker and murkier moralities.
Adapted by directors Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping from their 2021 short of the same name, Femme is a thrilling, subversive take on a tale of vengeance, told through a delightfully LGBTQ+ lens. Misfits and Candyman (2021) star Nathan Stewart-Jarrett plays Jules – a gay man and talented drag queen from inner-city London who becomes the victim of a vicious homophobic attack following one of his performances. Three months later and the incident has left Jules with scars both physical and emotional, leading him to suppress and hide his sense of personal expression and identity out of fear – but things change when he discovers that the culprit behind the crime, Preston (George MacKay), is a closeted gay man, after spotting him at a local cruising spot. From thereon out, Femme is a suspenseful story of morphing identities, changing circumstances, and a very slow, unusual form of payback, but if revenge is a dish best served cold, what happens if you leave it long enough to reach room temperature?
This is a fascinatingly fresh and unique new entry in the catalogue of queer cinema, and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen something quite like it before.
Femme isn’t exactly the feel-good film of the year, nor is it the clear-cut tale of a homophobe’s cathartic comeuppance that would appeal as an entertainingly gritty thrill-ride for general audiences. What it is, however, is a tremendously stressful piece of cinema filled with nigh-unbearable tension from top to bottom. Yet it kept my eyes on the screen at all times and managed to engage and compel under the weight of all its pressure, not least due to the superb performances from leads Stewart-Jarrett and MacKay. Their unconventional relationship dynamic is what keeps the film grounded throughout all of Femme’s uncertainty and shifting moral boundaries, and while the question of who has the upper hand in Jules and Preston’s power-play may have different answers at different points in the narrative, it’s these two striking central performances that provide a stable core to the story told here.
This is a fascinatingly fresh and unique new entry in the catalogue of queer cinema, and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen something quite like it before. The filmmakers’ command of the bubbling tension that could break through to the surface at any moment during Femme is reminiscent of such masterworks as Henri Georges-Clouzot’s Diabolique (1955). This is an engaging, intelligent, and sometimes shocking experience of a movie that I can’t recommend enough.
As a reviewer, I would love to be more specific, but a lot of Femme’s success comes from witnessing its developments play out first-hand, and thanks to Signature Entertainment you can do just that at your local cinema as they’re responsible for this fantastic picture having a nationwide theatrical release. I can’t even begin to imagine just how electric the atmosphere must be at an actual in-theatre screening of Femme, so I urge you to check it out and experience that sensation for yourselves.
Femme is in Cinemas nationwide from Friday through Signature Entertainment
Robyn’s Archive – Femme (2023)
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