Here is a film sure to ruffle a few feathers on your plush, pride-colored boas. It’s a film so tense, provocative, and engrossing that you might find your heart rate accelerating at an unusual pace. Femme (the feature directorial debut for Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping) is part film noir and part queer romance, but is, mostly, a hard-boiled revenge tale. Just not the kind you might think. It takes what we know about these genres and subverts the power dynamics, the character motivations, and the expected outcomes. Aesthetically, it reminds me a lot of the Sundance hit How to Have Sex with a slightly darker edge. The kinetic vibrancy of the cinematography juxtaposed with the raw, naturalistic performances underscores Femme‘s fascinating exploration of duality.
Can you describe the plot of “Femme”?
Following his performance at an East London nightclub, Jules (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett), a local drag queen, steps outside for a smoke break. There he encounters Preston (George MacKay), a closeted, chiseled, tattooed bro-type, standing across the street coyly checking him out. Their half-baked encounter is interrupted by a swarm of Preston’s friends who quickly whisk him away. He stealthily code-switches from a smitten puppy to a tough bulldog to suppress his unspoken desires. Later at a nearby gas station, Jules (still in drag) again runs into Preston and his homophobic posse. They hurl unprompted, offensive slurs in his direction.
In retaliation, Jules confronts Preston for having checked him out earlier. Angered and humiliated, Preston and his all-to-eager friends viciously assault Jules again. Traumatized and belittled by the experience, Jules becomes a PTSD-riddled recluse, resulting in a year-long hiatus from performing in public spaces. Then, serendipitously, Jules (now out of drag) spots Preston at a discreet gay bath house. He follows him into the locker room where Preston exchanges a lustful glare (not unlike the glare from their first encounter). After exchanging information, it occurs to Jules that Preston doesn’t recognize him. This sets a perfect revenge scheme into motion: Jules will emotionally manipulate her former abuser into a relationship to expose his sexuality and his previous crimes.
What makes “Femme” a unique spin on the genre?
Femme does not offer any easy solutions to the conflicts it presents. It means to prove thought, challenge perceptions, and defy convention. The film asks the audience to re-contextualize their preconceived notions about protagonist vs antagonist, victim vs abuser, masculine vs feminine, and hero vs foe. It argues that these qualities can exist inside the same person under certain circumstances. This makes the characters of Jules and Preston multifaceted, layered, and unpredictable. Our allegiances frequently oscillate between them. We sympathize with Jule’s trauma and desire for justice to a certain extent. However, once the power dynamic shifts in his favor, his calculated actions start feeling just as cruel as Preston’s. By accessing Preston’s trust, Jules (and the audience) gets to see his soft, tortured, and vulnerable side, making it increasingly difficult to dismiss him.
There is a steady, nerve-frying, and palpable sense of tension in the evolution of their relationship. Mainly because we know it is only a matter of time before the web of lies and deception wreaks havoc on everyone involved. The lines between reality and fiction, love and desire, and revenge and forgiveness begin to blur as the characters’ humanity and flaws are exposed. As a result, the audience becomes complicit in this messy exercise of morality. So few thrillers can accomplish this degree of nuance and complexity within a plot tailor-made for tabloid fodder. Femme harnesses the stylistic and thematic elements of a great film noir (stark lighting, cynical heroes, intricate plotting, etc) with a modern twist and explicitly queer subtext. The performances from Stewart-Jarrett and Mackay are sublime and bruisingly authentic. This a tough and challenging piece of work that is certain to inspire many spirited post-screening discussions.
