The Venus Effect review – a sizzling queer romcom without the cliches
Technically, this film is a romcom – in that it is funny and romantic. But it's not a romcom in the sense of adhering to the formulaic character types and well-worn plot beats that we're used to seeing the likes of Jennifers Aniston, Lawrence and Lopez navigate with such aplomb. It is the story of twentysomething Liv (Johanne Milland) and her burgeoning attraction to Andrea (Josephine Park), and is a lovely, well-acted and sincere Danish independent film with plenty of humour; it wears its tender heart on its sleeve and hews closely to the form and style of a coming-of-age film.
Nobody here is coming-of-age, though; they're already-of-age, but in Liv's discovery of her sexuality, perhaps it could be a coming-of-orientation film. The Venus Effect is strong on the things which matter in such stories: sizzling chemistry between the leads and likable characters you hope can work through their inevitable differences. It's also good on rather more under-explored themes, such as the ripple effects of coming out in a modern family who aren't going to disown you for homophobic reasons, but might nevertheless disappoint you in other ways.
The film's best line – 'I just don't think I'm gay enough to be gay' – brings humour to a well-handled exploration of Liz's feeling that while she might fancy a woman (or even women), she still doesn't fit in with Andrea and her friends in a broader subcultural way. Queer culture can feel exclusionary, and the extent to which this feeling is a product of Liv's own anxieties versus something that it would be worth Andrea examining is left open. The perennial debate around whether queer cinema needs to focus less on pain and showcase joy, or whether in fact avoiding tragedy is dishonest considering what the real world is actually like is curiously moot: this is a film with pain and pleasure blended in a realistic and sweetly vulnerable way.
The Venus Effect is on digital platforms from 2 June.
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