User reviews

"Jules" (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) is a confident drag artist who runs out of cigarettes one night after coming off stage. He sets off to the local shop to replenish and encounters a gang of homophobic chavs. Maybe ill-advisedly, he responds to their taunts and when outside is followed and badly beaten. Not surprisingly, this experience turns the young man into a bit of a recluse. He struggles to come to terms with what has happened and this affects his relationships with flatmates "Toby" (John McCrea) and "Molly" (Antonio Clarke). His mindset changes, however, after a trip to a sauna re-introduces him to his protagonist "Preston" (George MacKay) who aside from being a bit of a thug, is clearly closeted too. The two hook up, it's raw and visceral - and his new mate drives off and leaves him afterwards! This, however, sows a seed in his mind and some You-tubing later leaves him with a plan to film and expose "Preston" to the very creatures with whom he exists. What he doesn't quite count on, indeed neither man (nor us) really, follows as the story evolves from one of violence and vengeance into one that might actually touch on something deeper. "Jules" learns to adapt to his nemesis's world of drugs, violence and hatred - even to turn it to his own advantage, and that elicits a response from his new found "friend" that is almost touching at times... Thing is though, can leopard's change their spots? NJS is superb here but for me it's MacKay who made me sit up and take notice. There is something distinctly authentic about his depiction of this screwed up bully and as the film progresses and the dynamic between the men changes, his is the character that I actually began to feel ever so slightly sorry for. Don't look for vindication at the end, there is a finish to the film but not to the story... This is a well written drama that snacks of realism and reminds us all that bigotry in all it's forms is still alive and well! It's certainly worth watching.

Femme is a psychosexual thriller that's unbearably tense from the get go. A tale of revenge and repression that barely gives itself a minute to breathe. Every scenario and encounter is filled with a growing sense of dread which culminates in an explosive confrontation that's terrifying.

The power play between Nathan Stewart-Jarrett and George MacKay is incredible to witness. As it progresses Nathan Stewart-Jarrett goes from being uneasy and uncomfortable to having real power over George MacKay, who starts off absolutely terrifying and becomes more self conscious in the later moments.

Debuting directors and writers Sam H. Freeman & Ng Choon Ping announce themselves with a heavy film that depicts its violence in an unflinching fashion and has a power play that's suitably sexually charged. It's all helped by Adam Janota Bzowski's score which is always present at the right moment.

I sat watching this after a heavy meal in the evening and had been afraid I might have dropped off. Not a chance. The writing and direction, let alone the two main characters, kept the tension high all the time. An hour and forty minutes seemed to speed by.

I'd been worried that I might not get into the film as the world of drag and effeminacy is not mine. However the brilliance of the acting swept all such doubts aside as Jules and Preston developed their affair.

This isn't a simple revenge film. There's more to it than that and the film starts to delve into real feelings that the two lovers develop for each other.

The ending is bleak but leaves enough scope for hope. I recommend this film.

Adapted from an award winning short film of the same name, this follows the path of Jules (Nathan Stewart Jarrett), who after an horrific homophobic attack is drawn into the world of Preston (George Mackay) one of his assailants for revenge, or maybe not. Preston and his circle inhabit a different lifestyle of criminality and underlying violence which imbues this film with almost unbearable tension and we fear for Jules all the time. We are surprised by the availability of every kind of gay porn to access or contribute to, which could also be used as a weapon to destroy someone's life. The dialogue is authentic and compelling throughout and holds our interest until the scary climax. All the actors are excellent especially the two main guys.

"Femme," a 2023 thriller, grabs you and doesn't let go. It's the story of Jules, whose life is torn apart by a brutal homophobic attack. Things take a wild turn when he runs into Preston, one of the attackers, in a gay sauna. Jules is torn between revenge and something deeper.

This movie hits hard. It's gritty, real, and punches you right in the feelings. The actors bring their A-game, making every moment believable and raw. You're not just watching; you're living through Jules's pain and his complex road to possibly finding peace.

"Femme" is more than a movie. It's a deep dive into the aftermath of love & hate, showing how it scars everyone involved. It's uncomfortable, yes, but it's also incredibly powerful. It's one of those rare films that sticks with you, challenging you to see the world and its harsh realities in a new light.

I'd heard an interview with both George Mackay and Nathan Stuart-Jarrett about their experiences on set and during the filming of Femme, and was intrigued. Previously, Mackay has played pretty easy to like, or ar least average/'ordinary' character. He comes across as a,fairly gentle soul.

His performance in Femme is testament to his acting talent. He embodies a violent, intimidating man, who is almost unrecognisable from the actor as I'd had previously perceived him. When an actor can truly transform in the way he does, it is incredible to watch.

The film focuses on two main characters, one openly queer and immersed in the sphere of free expression of identity and gender and sexuality. The other, is caught up in a very toxic, aggressive, and closed minded circle, who are hostile to any 'non-traditional'/-patriarchal gender and sexual stereotypes. When these two characters collide, we witness devastating, moving and captivating consequences. Each is thrown into the other's completely foreign 'world', and the film explores how they navigate this- the impact it has upon their perceptions and relationships with themselves and those around them.

Nathan Stuart-Jarrett is lesser known than Mackay, but totally matches his skills at portraying a hugely complex character who is respond to life changing experiences. It is believable, tragic, beautiful, crushing and so so worthy of attention and praise.

In a nutshutt, Femme is a story about the protagonist's power being stolen and their realization that the only way to get it back is to TAKE IT BACK. And the plan to do so is a story told in the narrative that is enticing, tension building and slow burn perfection.

Following an attack, Jules goes from a confident extrovert to a scared introvert. Months go by and all Jules can do is play street fighter on the couch (albeit well). Jules begrudgingly leaves their flat to go to a bath house. In doing so, a chance encounter with the attacker presents itself. Jules is curious.

Enter Preston... This is a guy who has bad tattoos and a bad attitude. But that doesn't stop Jules from being curious and that curiosity leads to a creative plan of revenge. Does Jules get their power back? You will need to watch this one to find out.

George Mackay and Nathan Stewart both execute phenomenal performances. If you're a fan on Nathan Stewart in this movie, see also the series Soulmates (Black Mirror style genre). I haven't come across George Mackay before, but equally impressed.

Queer movies have been hit and miss recently as they always engage in the caricature of romanticizing the pains between the queer one and the closeted one.

Femme had all the chances of ending in the déjà vu world of sad gay movies but it does the opposite.

By showing incredibly realistic characters, with their emotional anxieties and doubts evolving in real time, by building an insane level of tension and ambiguity, Femme manages the impossible. It resets the queer love story to new highs. There are no arty effects, artificial pose, comfortable moments. This is a drama where love tries to find a place in mountains of pain.

At the center is identity and where each of us fits in defining our queer sensibility. I particularly loved the moments where the closeted one tries to create casual and romantic moments the way his mind can accept it. It's groundbreaking.

Difficult to watch but absolutely outstanding.

A revenge drama is a tricky business. You don't want it to be a too much of exploitation trash, but you don't want it to be too safe either. 'Femme' falls closer to 'playing it too safe' team.

I found the biggest issue was that the key moments didn't ring true. The assault scene, for example, is the basis of the rest of the ensuing drama. I wouldn't have expected it to be the level of 'Irreversible'... but it definitely relied too much on camera works and editing than the rawness of the violence, thus making Jules' resulting trauma less gripping to the audience.

The following key moments of shift also failed to be convincing. How Jules re-encounters Preston, how that chance encounter leads to hook up, how that again leads to a proper steak date... all seem to just happen for the convenience of the plot. Also Preston's changes as a character, namely how he develops deeper feeling towards Jules and admits his submissive side... all come along without much development (after literally one scene after another of him using Jules like a sex toy, that is).

Together with Jules' frankly flimsy plan of 'revenge' (why would he bring Preston back to his place and let his friends meet him if he truly was serious about his revenge?), the overall result is that it made it hard to take the whole thing rather seriously. A revenge drama that keeps you at the edge of the seat, 'Femme' is not.

One of the weaknesses was also Stewart-Jarrett playing Jules. His switch between feminine-masculine persona was impressive, but his display of tension/fear/emotional struggle was pretty mono-toned. Say, his fear before the assault should have a different colour to his fear when he later faces Preston's thug friends, for example. But to my eyes, it all felt pretty generic 'fear'.

Mackay's display of explosive temper and the contrasting soft/weak side is great, but even his great acting cannot quite make up (already mentioned) lack of convincing development.

I want to see more risk taking and raw approach when the film maker took up such a controversial subject to start with.

There was absolutely nothing not to love here. The writing and the direction were spot on, it was gritty and real, no gloss, totally believable. The locations were perfect to set the scenes, the pacing was spot-on, no superfluous dialogue, everything kept the story moving along at just the right pace, and the actors performances were incredible. So fully developed and 3 dimensional, you were engrossed in their story and whilst the main characters' performances were flawless, all the supporting cast were perfect in their roles as well . I was hooked from the very start and this is one of the very few films where I wished it had been longer. An outstanding piece of work.

Femme is a brilliantly tense and gripping thriller that will truly have you on the edge of your seat.

It follows drag performer Jules who seeks a unique sort of revenge on the perpetrator of a homophobic attach against him. It's a thoroughly unique and engaging and superbly constructed plot that keeps pace and momentum throughout. It really feels like anything could happen at any moment which gives the film such a great energy.

The greatest thing about this film though is the two lead performances from Nathan Stewart-Jarrett and George McKay. They are both exquisite and bring such intriguing complexity to each of their characters. The dynamic between them is so hard to capture but they both do it so well. The performance from McKay is particularly strong as he cultivates this anything could happen tone through his erratic portrayal of the character.

Aside from the brilliant performances and plot, the tone and style of the film are great and make for a rich and engaging film.

Femme is a powerful, punchy, and unique piece of cinema that will have you hooked from start to finish.

Jules (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) is a popular drag artist whose life changes for the worse following a violent homophobic assault upon him by Preston (George Mackay) and his fanatically macho mates. Then one day he sees Preston in a gay sauna and sets out on a journey of revenge.

This is actually quite a hard watch with aggressive sex and brutal homophobic attitudes front and centre throughout such that you can cut the atmosphere with a knife. The performances, particularly Mackay are impressive and the tension is palpable with so many unpleasant characters - will Jules expose Preston as gay, will he get found out by Preston or his mates or will either of them change. This ultimately is an impressive, tough and tense piece of work and not, as I said, an easy watch.

Having seen this film I do not see how or why it has been put into the category of being a thriller. The suspense is watching how two people cross almost impossible barriers ( mainly caused by our society's homophobia ) and become lovers. Yes there is revenge in this loving, but this too is fed by society and its prejudices. There are two horrific physical attacks both instigated by frustration as one of the lead characters cannot accept his homosexuality. A black man who is also a drag artist is beaten up and the man who beats him, and forgets that he has done this is a former imprisoned criminal, and astonishingly during the duration of what we see a love story develops between the attacker and the attacked. No more spoilers but the two leads are perfect in their roles and so is the direction perfect. I saw the film as a queer ' Romeo and Juliet ' where two people have their own Montagues and Capulets, and how these opposing sides are enemies as well as being friends. It is definitely not a sad gay/queer film and there is at the end a yellow hoodie birthday gift that signalled that their need, however perverse in the eyes of the politically correct, would continue for each other. A film of beauty and a brutal tenderness despite heteronormative values that neither of them deep down want to follow. A great, great film.

As a 100% straight guy I can't say watching men on men action is something I was looking forward to, I'd rather watch two women to be honest, and in this movie you get a lot of those explicit scenes. Not that I was bothered, I don't care what someone else does with his sexual life, and in this case it was actually a good movie. Nathan Stewart-Jarret and George Mackay, both actors I already enjoyed watching before were very convincing in their roles. The cinematography was good as well, even the explicit scenes were not that visually offending, not that anything offends me, but I can see some stuck up religious people having a problem with this.

Femme is one of the first LGBTQ films I think nextflix have the rights to. I liked this film and I thought the performances were very good all around and believable it almost played our as real life and that added to it. So Jules is a dragstar that decides to go to the local shop after running out of cigarettes. It's viewing discretion after this as some punk follows and beats poor Jules up, leaving them for dead. We skip and things seem normal until Jules spots him again now coming to be known as Preston and Jules sets our to get Thier revenge on him. I like revenge thrillers like this and aside from the hard to watch parts it was overall a fine film.

I enjoyed this film very much and agree with other viewers about the high acting quality of the two leads.

As others have stated in their reviews,the world of drag queens and excessively effeminate men is not for me but the drama quicky transcends that scene as the central relationship develops into something that I was expecting to be quite touching.

The ending was open ended which is a device I personally do not like. I prefer a story that has a beginning,a middle and an end.

I don't think it would be giving anything aways to say that the romantic in me would have liked an ending worthy of 'Heartstopper' but of course it is an entirely different world.

One more thing,and this is not restricted to 'Femme'. Directors create mood partly with lighting but scenes that take part at night or in dark nightclubs should be lit more effectively. There were several scenes where I was not entirely sure what was going on.

In conclusion I would recommend this film for the performances of the two leads especially...and despite other issues,Preston is very sexy.

Man, was I geared up for this film. It sounded like it was going to be a really good revenge thriller (one of my favourite genres of film). Unfortunately the film turned out to be nothing like what I expected and fell completely flat on its face.

I just don't know what they were going for here. The film sets a character up to be an absolute monster of a human being, and then we spend the whole movie being asked to sympathise with him. I don't understand it, and I didn't like it.

The film was a lot more arty and slow than I had hoped for too. It's more interested in looking good than actually telling a good story. This one wasn't for me. A big letdown. A generous 5/10.

I read about this last year sometime and I remember being intrigued, but I wasn't expecting anything this good and unique. It begins with a hate crime, it turns into a revenge film before finally becoming the most unusual and sad love stories I've ever seen. It's about love, hate, acceptance, violence, tolerance, revenge, regret and, for me at least, confusion on how I wanted this to end as well as to how it does conclude. I wasn't really confused by the ending, but I was confused about how I felt about it. It floored me. The story of a drag performer getting revenge on his attacker is as complex a relationship as you will ever find. There are a number of actors in this, but the two leads so tower over all else, I already can barely remember them. I've seen George MacKay in a lot of films since he was a youngster and I've never seen him give a bad performance in a career highlighted by the brilliant 1917 in which the camera only briefly ever leaves his shocked and awed face. His role here is much more multi-faceted depicting a violent, ugly character learning acceptance of others, kindness, being accepted, and love. On the other hand, I'd never seen Nathan Stewart-Jarrett in anything, but his role has many dimensions as well and they are both wonderful. This LGBTQ film is unlike any other that I have seen. It is also one of the best, dark and sad as it may be.

This film is an uncomfortable watch but quite brilliant for it. An exceptionally well acted study in identity and the effects of of revenge.

The difficult subjects are not avoided and the pace and then the sudden switch of roles leaves us with no doubt about the toxicity that can surround role play and identity when it's just projection. Excellent piece of film work for all concerned.

The acting is superb. I don't recognise anybody from any other work safe for a very brief cameo by Nima Teleghani, who is an actor I have seen on stage (and in Heartstopper.)

I also saw the lead, George Mackay interviewed about the role and the film maker's intentions and he was absolutely invested in the theme and his performance. Excellent acting from the other lead, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett. Both bound for brilliant bright futures.