Femme

When Jules (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, "Candyman") takes a break outside the back of the club where he performs in drag as Aphrodite, the cute guy he notices checking him out takes off when he acknowledges him.  But when Jules stops at a store on his way home, he’ll see Preston (George MacKay, "The Beast") is one of a pack of Skinheads and they brutally beat him outside on the street.  After months of withdrawal from public life, Jules goes to a gay sauna where he once again will see Preston and decides on an elaborate plot for revenge in “Femme.”

Laura's Review: B+

Writer/directors Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping, the writer and director, respectively, of the 2021 short their feature debut expands upon, impress with the complexity they bring to the issue of identity, gay bashing and the closeted individuals who engage in it.  Stewart-Jarrett and MacKay both traverse a wide range of emotions as their characters assume and lose power over one another.

Although Preston’s acted aggressively in the sauna, Jules, looking shy and vulnerable, approaches the heavily tatted man with an undercut in the locker room and is soon following Preston into his bedroom.  But Preston’s no sooner initiated rough sex when the sound of his buddies entering panics both men.  Telling Jules to stay inside his room, Preston goes to entertain his friends, but Jules instead finds a bright yellow hoodie in Preston’s closet, dons it and walks out into the living room.  Initially flabbergasted and terrified of being outed, Preston admires the way Jules extricates himself from a precarious situation.  Their next meeting jumps into an entirely new phase, Preston taking Jules out to dinner where he orders chateaubriand for two and makes quite the point of counting out his cash at the end of it, but after driving to a deserted spot near some woods for a sexual encounter, drives off leaving Jules to fend for himself. 

At home, Jules has taken to watching entrapment videos of men being outed in gay sex acts.  He slowly begins to chip away at the wall Preston’s erected around himself, beginning with sharing a laugh and graduating to more emotionally intimate sex.  Preston’s violent nature still flares up whenever he feels his true self may be made public, but now he explains his ‘temper.’  Jules even begins to hang out with Preston’s gang, bonding over video games (and learning something revelatory), but the one time Preston finds himself awkwardly mixing with Jules’s crowd, Jules’s best friend Toby (John McCrea, "Cruella") invites him to Jules’s birthday party unbeknownst to Jules just when Jules is ready to take the stage again.

It’s fascinating to watch the dynamic change, Jules repeating Preston’s crude initial pickup lines as he assumes the power in the relationship.  Costume, hair and makeup all come into play as Jules takes on a more masculine look while Preston subtly softens.  Stewart-Jarrett, who mostly looks like a wide-eyed naïf when not on stage keeps us guessing as to what he’s aiming for.  MacKay is outstanding as the conflicted Preston, his façade slowly peeled away, his face awash with changing emotions in the film’s penultimate scene.   While none of Preston’s gang stands out individually, McCrea is affecting as Jules’s roommate while Aaron Heffernan’s Oz is the charismatic ringleader of Jules’s scene.  Cinematographer James Rhodes uses pops of color to accent London nights.   Adam Janota Bzowski’s ("Saint Maud") chilly, propulsive score adds a tense undercurrent.

“Femme” will keep you guessing as Stewart-Jarrett and MacKay reveal themselves to one another.  It is a strong, stylish and sexy debut that leaves us with a punch to the gut.

Robin's Review: B

Utopia released "Femme" in NY on 3/19/24, expanding in subsequent weeks.