Femme
Suspenseful British revenge thriller about a drag queen who meets one of the men who attacked him during a homophobic attack in a gay sauna. He seeks rapprochement and starts a dangerous game.
With his performances as Aphrodite Banks, Jules has a place among London’s celebrated drag artists. One night after a show, he steps out to get some cigarettes and is brutally attacked by a guy out with a gang of blokes. Although Jules is able to recover physically, he withdraws from the outside world, traumatised. Months later, he recognises his attacker by chance in a gay sauna. Without make-up and wrapped only in a towel, Jules is able to approach the other man incognito and find out who he is. He begins an affair with the closeted homosexual Preston in order to take his revenge.
Directors Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping depict a London of stark contrasts in terms of gender ideology. Carried by their cast’s physically and psychologically subtle performances, their revenge drama is a gripping and compelling psychological portrait of internalised homophobia. It is also a powerful and brave pro-LGBTIQ+ kick against a society that, at its core, is totalitarian, anti-gay and anti-trans. (source: www.berlinale.de)