Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choo Ping direct this intense, brilliantly performed revenge thriller set in East London, a surprise gem playing in the Panorama strand at this year’s Berlinale.
We meet Jules (an exceptional Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) performing at a gay club, taking to the stage as Aphrodite Banks. It’s a lively event, the young Londoner is surrounded by friends and clearly adored by them all. Watching from afar as Jules grabs a smoke outside post-show is tracksuit-wearing low-level dealer/ ‘entrepreneur’ Preston (George Mackay), seemingly intrigued by what he sees before snapping into an abusive tirade and storming off. Moments later in a local corner shop, the two meet again, this time Preston with a gang of friends, the interaction leading to Preston kicking the daylights out of Jules and leaving him severely injured on the street in the middle of the night.
Months later, clearly still traumatised from the event, Jules musters the momentum to get out of the house and visits a local gay sauna. It is here where he sees Preston once again, still laden with bad attitude and homophobic comments, despite being sat there in a towel himself. Jules clocks him and the two get together outside, having sex in the back of Preston’s BMW, clearly not recognising him from their interaction previously. It is here when Jules plots his revenge, a series of meetings between the two over the following weeks, all culminating in a devastating conclusion.
A striking film from the outset, Femme is remarkable in every way. Stewart-Jarrett, seen briefly in the Candyman remake, and TV series The Misfits, gets a break-out role with this which is almost guaranteed to win over both audiences and awards voters when it sees release. I type this on BAFTA night from the Berlinale just wondering to myself as to whether we’ll be seeing his name mentioned this time next year. Mackay, too is brilliant as bully Preston, such a divergent swerve from anything else he’s done. He conveys brutality and hate, but also a much more vulnerable side and it’s quite something to see play out on screen.
London is painted in a different light by cinematographer James Rhodes, the narrative taking place mostly at night – but this isn’t the glitzy dazzle of the West End, but an alternative side of the city that we are absolutely immersed wth in from the off.
It’s a film that will stay with you long after the credits roll – I type this a couple of days after seeing it myself – and I still can’t get it out of my head. Sure, there are lots of questions that it raises and maybe not all of those are answered, but this falls into line with the essence of the story itself. I was absolutely bowled over by it and I cannot wait until it gets a wider audience in front of it. Truly exceptional.
Femme was reviewed at the 2023 Berlin International Film Festival.
Femme
Summary
Intense, beautiful, thought-provoking, and devastating – all words I would use to describe this brilliant film from writer/ directors Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choo Ping – brilliant on every level from all involved.
