‘Queens of Drama' Review: A Half-Century Feud
In the French musical romance 'Queens of Drama,' the offices of the Starlet Factory brim with hopefuls warming up for a singing competition show when the punk rocker Billie Kohler (Gio Ventura) struts in. Aching for pop stardom herself, Mimi Madamour (Louiza Aura), all curls and doe-eyed warmth, remarks to Billie that they are each wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with an image of an edgy 1980s singer.
What looked to be a moment of an insta-crush turns into a snarky exchange, ending with each petulantly sticking a tongue out at the other. In 'Queens of Drama,' these soon-to-be tumultuous lovers meet more contemptuous than cute.
The year of that encounter is 2005. But the director Alexis Langlois's unruly, ideas-freighted romance actually begins in 2055 as Mimi's No. 1 fan, SteevyShady (Bilal Hassani), recounts the couple's vexed love story. 'This is not about me,' Steevy, a video influencer, says with flair. But of course it is. And it's SteevyShady's role in the extended flashback that turns the queer romance into a meta-ride in pop-culture obsession, with nods to every letter in the L.G.B.T.Q.+ rainbow, and considerations both fond and disparaging of punk and pop music.
With playful visual flourishes, a willfully garish palette and winks galore (including one to the French feminist writer Monique Wittig), Langlois's debut has stylistic ambition for days. But it's not as genre-fluent as 'Love Lies Bleeding' and 'I Saw the TV Glow,' or as swoon inducing as its volatile couple deserves.
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