Expanding on a short film made a couple of years previously (that starred Harris Dickinson and Paapa Essiedu in the main roles), Femme is a fascinating and complex character study that looks at sexuality, damaging machismo, revenge, consent, and homophobia. Co-written and co-directed by Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping, it's a brilliantly tense and breathtaking work that marks them out as two exciting talents to keep a close eye on.
Nathan Stewart-Jarrett plays Jules, a young man we first see in his drag queen persona. He looks so good that he catches the eye of Preston (George MacKay). Later on, however, Preston is with a group of friends in a small shop that Jules is using, leading to a confrontation that ends with Jules being violently attacked. Retreating further and further inside himself, Jules eventually starts to regain his confidence, and a sense of purpose, when he befriends Preston, who doesn't recognise him in his non-stage persona, and figures out that he can use sex to entrap and embarrass him.
I really wasn't sure about Femme when it started. Nothing to do with the subject matter, I just don't always respond well to MacKay in lead roles. He's a good actor, but not always the right fit for the roles he gets, and I was worried that his character here would feel like the character he played in I Came By. Thankfully, that wasn't the case. He's still not the ideal choice, especially when you think of how good Dickinson was in the first incarnation of the character, but you can't feel him struggling to maintain the accent and act this time around. It helps that he's often alongside Stewart-Jarrett, who is phenomenally good in his role (whether leaning into his drag queen persona or being forced to "pass" in the company of Preston's friends). There are a handful of others populating the screen, all doing well, but this is all about the two leads, and both have enough faith in the material to fully commit to roles that require them to be unhesitant and nakedly intimate with one another (metaphorically and, sometimes, almost literally).
Freeman and Ping know what they're doing here, and they guide viewers through these muddy waters with a very steady set of hands. There's the kind of standard narrative arc that you would expect from that plot description, but there's also much more going on around that. Both Preston and Jules fail to keep themselves within any one particular box, and both act around other people in ways that often cost themselves a chance for moments of happiness. This isn't dissimilar to how so many people act every day, although there may be very different factors involved, and everyone watching this should be able to empathise with some of the interactions depicted (particularly the peer pressure that, to a certain degree, holds both of our leads back at various times).
I can't even begin to properly pick apart all of the threads that I mentioned in the first paragraph, but just know that everything mentioned here is treated with intelligence and care as the film builds to a powerful and moving finale. The audio and visuals match the energy of each main sequence, as well as the growing intensity, and the whole thing is a perfect blend of the gripping and the thought-provoking. Highly recommended, and bonus points if you sit down to watch it in the company of any homophobes you want to start a dialogue with, or just make feel very uncomfortable.
9/10
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