The Drama is the latest from Norwegian writer-director Kristoffer Borgli whose films (Sick of Myself, Dream Scenario) always cause a stir, and this is no exception. It stars Hollywood big-hitters Robert Pattinson and Zendaya as a happily engaged couple whose forthcoming wedding may not go ahead after one discovers a disturbing truth about the other. What is this disturbing truth? It would be a spoiler to tell you – even though the details are splashed all over the internet and have already created a backlash. (Don’t look it up. Or do. I’m not your boss.) It is intended to shock but it may not be as shocking as it thinks it is – or even very convincing.
It is intended to shock but it may not be as shocking as it thinks it is – or even very convincing
The film is billed as a ‘rom com’ or ‘dark comedy’ – marketing has to sell it somehow – but as the ‘twist’ is, in fact, the premise, it’s more of a psychological drama. (The clue is in the title.) It’s set in Boston where Pattinson and Zendaya play Charlie and Emma, who are blissfully in love. They are one of those beautiful couples you only ever find in cinema, whose income – he works in a museum; she works in a bookstore – couldn’t possibly stretch to a magnificent apartment with a spiral staircase and fabulous art but that’s where they live anyway. These are gorgeous people, leading a gorgeous life, and it’s the wedding this Saturday. What could possibly go wrong?
The film initially draws you in as if it were a rom-com. When we first meet Charlie he’s writing his wedding speech, which recounts the beginning of their relationship. In this way, via flashbacks, we see their first meet-cute, first date, first kiss, etc. Back in the present they’re deep into wedding prep and meet his best man Mike (Mamoudou Athie) and Mike’s wife Rachel (Alana Haim – always terrific) to sign off on the food and wine. As they get drunker and drunker Rachel suggests a game of ‘What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done?’ Emma’s confession goes down rather badly. Or, as Rachel puts it after a prolonged silence: ‘That is so disturbing I don’t know how to respond.’ Emma, realising it was a mistake to say anything, pukes. Emma has a tendency to do that. This is not a film for the emetophobic.
Now it’s out of the bottle it can’t be put back and Charlie can’t figure out where to go from here. He can’t look at Emma the same. He can’t bring himself to have sex with her. He is distraught. She is distraught. The film is deliberately designed to put the viewer in the position of asking: what would I do? But it’s a non-dilemma, ultimately. It’s something Emma thought of doing when she was 15, but never did. And she explains her reasoning. (She, unlike the others, has a back story.) When Rachel confesses to the worst thing she’s ever done, on the other hand, it’s something she did do, and it’s heinous, yet she is not only completely let off the hook but is allowed to take the high ground. The dark twist, in other words, makes no moral sense whatsoever.
The pair do have cracking chemistry. Pattinson brings all his usual nervy intensity, while Zendaya proves – for those who have only seen her in Dune, say – that she can be a nuanced actress. There’s some comedy but mostly the film keeps you in a state of unsettled discomfort, which means plenty of discordant violins. And what narrative drive there is fizzles away by the end.
I was more baffled than shocked. Don’t look up the ‘twist’. Unless you already have.
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