“Femme” walks this sophisticated line between its revenge narrative and self-empowerment. Jules seduces Preston to movie and humiliate him by posting their affair on a porn website, and by extension, publicly out him. In Jules’ thoughts, doing what Preston and his associates did to him is the equal of getting again at him. However isn’t outing a type of queer violence? “Femme” feels steeped in a quiet rage with out getting as violent or outlandish as one thing just like the rape revenge thriller “Ms. 45” however its seriousness with the way it justifies Jules actions feels off. Based mostly on a brief movie by the identical title and filmmakers that follows a vaguely related story of a Black queer man seducing one other unsafe white man, I’m wondering why revenge for a queer particular person of colour is to place themselves in hurt’s method again and again to publicly out a white self-hating homophobe? The expertise appears retraumatizing even when it’s one step nearer to Jules’ supposed objective. Days later, I’m nonetheless uncertain of how you can really feel, and the story’s ethical dilemma— particularly the way it performs out and results in its ultimate scene—seems no clearer.
Regardless of its ethically murky undertones, administrators Ng Choon Ping and Sam H. Freeman frames a fairly smooth image with cinematographer James Rhodes. The membership seems straight out of a music video, the bathtub home is awash in a neo noir blue, and Jules’ residence feels heat when his associates are in it or when basking in a candlelit bathtub. The lighting is so precise, it generally mirrors Jules’ feelings, like a chilling fluorescent mild for instance how unsafe and remoted Jules feels, or when he’s within the mild of the TV glow escaping with a spherical of video video games. Even banal avenue scenes look ok for {a magazine} photoshoot. This isn’t the dirty ‘sploitation revenge motion pictures of yesteryear. “Femme” is polished and funky—even the pictures themselves really feel seductive.
“Femme” is sophisticated for a lot of causes, be it for Jules’ revenge saga or when following his therapeutic as he navigates how you can outwardly current himself after the occasions of that brutal night time. We see his ache as he withdraws from associates and retreats from the particular person he was. We see the bodily violence he receives from Preston’s fists and kicks in bloody shut ups. Each Stewart-Jarrett and MacKay do a outstanding job wrestling with their character’s inside and outer conflicts, however a lot of “Femme” is in regards to the ache of queer life, that it leaves out its pleasure. Finally, we see what it means to reclaim energy and id from hate, but it surely’s a tough street to get there and Jules’ methodology could not work for everybody.
