Femme 2024 Movie Review Trailer

 This tense story of a drag performer pursuing a closeted gay attacker largely steers clear of lurid sensationalism and emerges as a nuanced examination of male identities and disguises.

On stage, drag performer Aphrodite Banks is a femme fatale: covered in war paint, with a cascade of braids around her waist, she possesses a smoldering gaze and frank confidence that matches her Amazonian height and bearing. Offstage, as Jules, she's simply femme: that term for gay men who present or express themselves in a more feminine manner, used too often as an insult or put-down even by their brethren in the community. 

Directors: Sam H. Freeman, Ng Choon Ping

Writers: Sam H. Freeman, Ng Choon Ping

Stars: George MacKay, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Aaron Heffernan

The first identity connotes an arrogant strength; the latter, for many, a delicate weakness. The way those associations and stigmas fight against each other in a man's body is the driving conflict of “Femme,” a tense, sometimes surprising revenge drama from British freshmen Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon. Ping.

A pair of sensational performances by Nathan Stewart-Jarrett (“Candyman”) and George MacKay (“1917”), locked in a nervous duo as two men with virtually nothing in common except their sexuality, represent the main attraction of this elegant and Una commendable, uncompromising fusion of genre fireworks and measured, thoughtful character study. The stars also keep the film stable and emotionally believable when a heretofore solid script, written by first-time directors, makes some wild and capricious plot moves down the stretch. These eminently forgivable flaws in the first feature won't stop “Femme” from racking up festival dates, particularly in the LGBTQ+ sphere, following its premiere in Berlin's Panorama section, while more daring arthouse distributors will surely want in on the action as well.

For Stewart-Jarrett, who has been on the radar for the next big British film since her starring role in the teen sci-fi series “Misfits” more than a decade ago, “Femme” is a long-awaited feature to showcase her flexible and Adaptive Gifts: The film depends on its credibility across a complex spectrum of costumes and gender archetypes, and on its intense vulnerability even in the character's most performative and isolated moment. We are first introduced to her as Aphrodite, fearless and unwavering as she struts through a Shygirl lip sync in a trendy East London queer club. However, after the show, as Jules runs to the street store to buy cigarettes, her extravagant Aphrodite costume seems not like armor but a target, open to attacks from everyday fans.

Sure enough, in the store, a group of young bullies make fun of him. Jules does his best, capturing the mix of hate and intrigue in the ringleader Preston's (MacKay) gaze and suggestively teasing him. A fight ensues, shot and slashed like a blurry, brutal tornado of limbs, skin, and blood; Stripped and brutally lacerated, Jules is the loser. Over the next few weeks, to the dismay of his outgoing friend and housemate Toby (John McCrea), he withdraws into himself.

When he ventures out again, he's in the comparatively isolated shadows of a gay sauna; Filming primarily at night or in stuffy, dimly lit interiors, cinematographer James Rhodes knows the different textures and colors of darkness that distinguish an air of security. or seductive privacy of one of invisible threat. In the locker room, he reunites with Preston: bristling with sexual assault and self-loathing, and oblivious to the identity of the man he brutalized weeks before. They have rough, anonymous sex and exchange numbers.

This tense story of a drag performer pursuing a closeted gay attacker largely steers clear of lurid sensationalism and emerges as a nuanced examination of male identities and disguises.

On stage, drag performer Aphrodite Banks is a femme fatale: covered in war paint, with a cascade of braids around her waist, she possesses a smoldering gaze and a frank confidence that matches her height and bearing. Amazonians of it. 

Offstage, as Jules, she's simply femme: that term for gay men who present or express themselves in a more feminine manner, used too often as an insult or put-down even by their brethren in the community. The first identity connotes an arrogant strength; the latter, for many, a delicate weakness. The way those associations and stigmas fight against each other in a man's body is the driving conflict of "Femme," a tense, sometimes surprising revenge drama about British high school students.

Watch Femme 2024 Movie Trailer