Gio Ventura and Louiza Aura in ‘Queens of Drama.’
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The lesbian music-themed romance, “Queens of Drama,” available on demand July 15, is destined to become a cult film. This appealing drama has a sparkly, edgy, and at times campy vibe. Some fun pop songs belie its low-budget nature and strong queer sensibility.
The opening sequence has Steevy Shady (Bilal Hassani), who describes himself, as “the internet’s biggest bitch,” introducing and recounting the decades-long love story “that struck French Pop” — the relationship between Mimi Madamour (Louiza Aura), a teen idol, and Billie Kohler (Gio Ventura), a punk performer.
The young women first meet in 2005 at auditions for “Starlet Factory,” an “American Idol”-like contest. Billie is misgendered by a judge and eventually thrown out by security for an outburst. Mimi, in contrast, gets selected because her voice is strong even as she is told that her personality needs work. When Mimi attends a performance by Billie’s band, Slit, at a club that same night, the young women end up back in Mimi’s bedroom, where they get to know each other — until Billie is literally forced into a closet because Mimi is not out to her mom. This prompts a fight, and a reconciliation as well as Billie helping Mimi with her performance along with a promise that “Music will never tear us apart.”
“Queens of Drama” depicts the on-again/off-again relationship between Mimi and Billie as it develops over time. Mimi wins “Starlet Factory” (no surprise) and has a hit song with “Pas Touche” (“Don’t Touch”), which is both catchy and an earworm. During a video shoot in a skatepark, Billie disrupts the filming, and then she further angers Mimi when she tries to kiss her in public. The out Billie feels slighted by Mimi’s lack of respect and attention, especially after Mimi refuses to let Slit release a song they worked on together that features the lyric, “You fisted me in the heart.” Moreover, when Mimi fails to acknowledge Billie during an awards speech, Billie answers Mimi with an angry anthem, “Damned by Love,” about her heartbreak. (The songs are stories and comment on the characters.)
All this drama allows nonbinary director Alexis Langlois, who co-wrote the screenplay with Carlotta Coco and Thomas Colineau, to explore issues of how young queer women are treated in the music industry. A backstory about Elie Moore (Mona Soyoc), a pioneering singer who was openly gay and rejected by the industry, forms a nice parallel to Mimi and Billie, but it feels slightly underdeveloped. Likewise, Mimi’s bestie, Harmonie Corrine (Alma Jodorowsky), is underused. A scene where she makes a pass at Mimi comes out of nowhere and goes nowhere.
There is also a hint of “A Star Is Born” at work here as Mimi’s career rises as Billie’s flatlines, but as Billie starts achieving success, Mimi gets sidelined and sabotaged. When Mimi is outed, it illustrates the positive and negative impacts of being an openly gay teen idol. She is ambushed on an interview show and suffers other humiliations. While Steevy Shady is inspired by Mimi to come out, he also has a violent encounter with Mimi. Mimi eventually has a meltdown that culminates with her breaking into a salon and shaving her head. (Cue Britney Spears reference.)
Whether the Mimi-Billie relationship can be repaired is at the heart of the film, yet viewers will want the couple to be together because they understand and care for each other even with all of their drama. (There is truth in titling.) The film also features a clever sequence where “Pas Touche” and “Damned by Love” are sung together, emphasizing the lovers’ connection. “Queens of Drama” could have used more nice scenes like that.
But Langlois tends to go over the top as often as possible. That is fine when Steevy Shady is dishing it out in the film’s amusing opening, or when drag queens are performing Mimi’s songs (as either as tribute or perhaps mockery). But the tone can go too far, as when Mimi and Billie are victims of a prank that pays homage to “Carrie.” Langlois tries to do too much here, and given the film’s low budget, less might have been more.
The same two songs are played far too often, yielding diminishing returns, and one musical performance goes on too long. The film has a high-energy finale, but it could have come sooner. Langlois stretches “Queens of Drama” out to nearly two hours, and it would benefit from some editing.
Nevertheless, both Louiza Aura and Gio Ventura are impressive in their feature film debuts. They have a real chemistry that maintains viewer interest in Mimi and Billie even when the narrative sags. In support, pop singer Bilal Hassani delivers a scene-stealing performance as Steevy Shady.
Langlois dedicates “Queens of Drama” “to the unloved divas, the uncool teased, the forgotten weirdos, and the proletarians who’ve hated themselves.” They made a film that speaks to its audience, and queer viewers will likely be enthralled.
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