Jump to the good stuff: The Story | Some Thoughts | The Final Verdict
The Story:
Femme is a thriller about a drag queen who gets brutally assaulted, then seeks revenge.
Jules (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett as Jules) is a popular drag queen who performs at an East London club. One night, before his act and in full drag, Jules is outside with some friends and spots a young, tattooed man, Preston (George MacKay), checking him out. They exchange flirtatious glances, then Preston leaves.
After his performance, Jules goes outside for a cigarette and discovers that he’s all out. He decides to go to the convenience store down the street, where he runs into Preston with his friends. Preston directs a homophobic slur at Jules, who mentions that he’d cruised him earlier in the night. The comment amuses Preston’s friends, and Jules leaves.
Upset that his friends are laughing at him, Preston follows Jules out of the store and assaults him, leaving him naked and bleeding on the sidewalk.
Three months later, Jules has stopped performing. One night he goes to a gay sauna, where he runs into Preston. Since Jules is out of drag, Preston doesn’t recognize him. Jules follows Preston into the changing room, where they exchange glances, then Preston tells him to wait a bit then meet him outside. Jules does, then gets into Preston’s car. Since Jules doesn’t have a place they can go, Preston calls his roommate to make he sure will be out, then takes Jules to his flat.
As Jules and Preston are about to have sex, Preston’s roommate comes home with some friends. Preston tells Jules to stay in his room and be quiet, then walks out to talk to his roommate. Unsure of what to do, Jules looks through Preston’s closet and finds the yellow hoodie Preston wore the night he was attacked. He slips into the hoodie, then steps out and pretends he was there to buy drugs from Preston. The ruse works, and Preston follows him out and they exchange phone numbers.
When Jules arrives home, he visits an amateur porn site and notices videos of men having sex with straight guys. The rest of the film is Jules setting out to exact revenge on Preston.
Some Thoughts:
Femme works mostly because the story is so well crafted and believable. Stewart-Jarrett and McKay give fine performances that never faulter. The progression of their relationship feels natural, with Jules being outwardly nervous at the start then gradually getting comfortable with the situation.
Since Jules is a drag queen, his slipping into another persona to get out of a sticky situation and fit into his surroundings is easy to swallow. And the more he does it, the easier it becomes.
The evolution of the yellow hoodie that Preston wears when he assaults Jules is wonderfully executed. It’s an aspect of the original crime that follows Jules until it slowly becomes a part of him. I loved it.
Although there is a lot of tension in Femme, it wasn’t enough to keep me on the edge of my seat. While directors Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping do a fine job with pacing and visuals, the film lacks a mood to enhance the dangerous situation that Jules places himself in.
The Final Verdict:
Femme is an entertaining thriller that ticks off all the boxes despite lacking the amount of tension most viewers expect from the genre.
