Femme | 2024
George MacKay and Nathan Stewart-Jarret in FEMME.
I'm always a bit wary of the idea that the most virulent homophobes are actually self-loathing closet cases - it's always felt like a justification for hurled at bigots, as if homophobia is a weapon that's acceptable to use as long as it's someone you don't like. Of course, there's precedent for this - Kirby Dick's Outrage outed closeted anti-gay politicians nearly 20 years ago. The concept of hiding one's true self behind a sheen of hatred is nothing new, but it remains a tricky and often uncomfortable subject.
So for a film like Femme to use it as the crux for an erotic thriller is somewhat unexpected, centering around a drag queen named Jules (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) who suffers a brutal gay-bashing, only to discover his attacker, Preston (George MacKay), cruising at a gay bathhouse a few months later. He hatches a plot to Preston, film themselves having sex, and out him to the world, but things hit a snag when Jules begins to develop feelings for the volatile gay-basher, complicating his plan and turning their relationship into a strange dance of volatile emotions and tentative understanding.
Credit where credit is due, Femme fearlessly tackles some incredibly thorny thematic material with surprising grace. Its exploration of toxic masculinity and the way it forces men into the closet is especially potent but doesn't absolve Preston of his actions, even as it delves into an examination of kink dynamics that are honestly more interesting than anything in Babygirl. I just wish Jules had been a more fleshed-out character. Preston is by far the more interesting character here, while Jules remains mostly defined by his victimhood, which is frustrating given the conflicted nature of the character as he begins to develop unexpected feelings for the man who left him bruised and bleeding on the sidewalk.
Femme confronts some fascinating ideas - not only the complicated desire of being sexually attracted to someone dangerous but also trying to understand how his circumstances made him who he is and that maybe, just maybe, there's a path to healing and redemption through accessing and unleashing the true desires buried beneath the hyper-masculine façade. It's a sexy and stylishly directed thriller with a genuine heat in its depiction of sexuality, thanks to some fantastic performances by both Stewart-Jarrett and MacKay. And while it brushes up on some complex issues of desire and sexuality, it often feels like it's doing the character of Jules a grave disservice by not giving him a life beyond his victimhood, stopping just short of really diving into its complex emotional waters.
