THE STORY – A happily engaged couple get put to the test when an unexpected revelation sends their wedding week off the rails
THE CAST – Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Alana Haim, Mamoudou Athie, Zoë Winters & Hailey Benton Gates
THE TEAM – Kristoffer Borgli (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 105 Minutes
“True love is radical acceptance,” one character says in Kristoffer Borgli’s “The Drama,” a sentiment that encapsulates the dark comedy’s secretly withheld thesis. Dedicating one’s whole life to another individual and promising not only to share everything with them, but also to grow with them is a radical action – accepting to spend your entire life with someone for all that they are, not, and will be. But what happens when that special someone turns out to be someone you thought they weren’t? And what happens when you find out the week of your wedding?
“The Drama” centers around Emma (Zendaya) and Charlie (Robert Pattinson), a young couple a week out from their beautiful wedding day, and, at first, everything seems perfect. Charlie is drafting a sweet yet funny speech to his wife that he’ll say in front of all their loved ones on the big day. The couple is practicing their first dance, the flowers are being ordered, and the food is being picked. And, as most love stories go, our couple is madly in love. They are truly confident in their decision and comfortable with one another that marriage seems like the natural next step. But on the night of a wine tasting, with their best man Mike (Mamoudou Athie) and maid of honor Rachel (Alana Haim), everyone reveals the worst thing they’ve ever done in a drunken game. Only when Emma reveals her action does the game quickly end due to how uncomfortably real and disturbing her revelation is.
Emma’s confession suddenly turns everything on its head, eliciting a mix of reactions from everyone around the table. Rachel is immediately appalled and disgusted, while Mike is trying to gather more information to form an opinion, and Charlie is in complete shock. In just ten seconds, everything he thought he knew about his fiancée has radically changed. Now, with only seven days until their wedding, can he accept Emma’s secret? Can his love and newfound judgment coexist? Can you forgive someone you love for the worst thing they ever did (or didn’t do but thought about doing) before you even knew them?
Borgli is asking a lot of questions but refusing to give any easy answers. He is not looking to provide the deepest of social commentary on Emma’s secret, but rather to use it as a vessel for this love story and confront the audience with something uncomfortably dark and complex. Specifically, the notion that we should not allow the worst moment of someone’s life to define them. But on the contrary, are some actions and active thoughts unforgivable? This is where “The Drama” lies, and Borgli’s screenplay revels in these questions, showing our characters trying to return to the status quo despite the painful truth that such a reset may be impossible. We have already seen that there is love between Emma and Charlie. Still, a crack is quickly causing more damage, as Charlie is adamant that they talk this through, while Emma is steadfast in refusing to confront her past or sufficiently examine the reasons for it, much to Charlie’s dissatisfaction. She doesn’t want to relive the emotions of her darkest days nor wants to claim them. But in Charlie’s mind, he is marrying the current Emma and the past Emma, and thus, he begins to spiral. Herein lies the drama.
Borgli’s screenplay and editing are often effective at conveying this sense of unsteadiness. The film plays with point of view as we are shown Charlie and Emma’s fears and anxiety, and how this revelation alters their previously cherished moments. Especially for Charlie, previous conversations and interactions start to be seen through a different lens. This allows Borgli to display interesting editing and blocking choices that highlight the disconcerting, uncertain nature of this new dynamic. Everything is now off-balance. The editing, especially, works well because it’s destabilizing from the jump and only becomes more pronounced as the film goes on. Some cuts are intense, while others feel incomplete, as if they’re in the middle of a thought that can’t reach its full articulation. Paired with sound design that is equally anxiety-ridden and explosive, it puts us right in the eye of the hurricane that is slowly becoming stronger and stronger as we get closer to the wedding. We are feeling Emma and Charlie’s relationship fall apart in real time, with you on the edge of your seat to see if they make it down the aisle. You are as concerned and stressed as they are, which is a testament to Borgli’s direction, screenplay, and editing.
However, the confession will strike a hot nerve with the audience, especially an American one. And the fact that this subject matter is being funnelled through a (dark) comedy where it is the butt of several jokes (with disturbing sound and imagery), it can and will be seen as irresponsible to some viewers. After all, Borgli is not American, and his lack of knowledge on the subject is felt throughout the piece. So much so that the film would have been much stronger if Borgli had used a different secret to funnel the themes it plays with. When one decides to use a sensitive subject in their art, they should do so respectfully and accountably, which just doesn’t feel like the case here, as Borgli isn’t as interested in dissecting the grander social implications of such thorny subject matter as much as he is with the relationship at the heart of the story. Its purpose here is for shock value, which can be immensely triggering for people directly and indirectly affected by the topic, to say the least.
But, despite the controversial subject matter, the film would not be nearly as strong without Zendaya and Pattinson delivering these complex performances. Pattinson embodies Charlie’s quirkiness and neurosis with such ease that it seems the role was written specifically for his unconsolidated energy. Charlie is both madly in love and deeply repulsed by Emma’s secret, and Pattinson allows us to watch that secret eat away at Charlie physically and emotionally. He is in constant battle with these two thoughts throughout the film, desperate for someone to give him a reason to forgive her, and that desperation seeps through the screen. On the other hand, Zendaya rises to the challenges a role like Emma provides to any actor. She is a character who is quickly watching everything her adult self has worked for potentially vanish. Emma has to be likable, potentially dangerous, and mysterious. She has to come across as someone the audience can fear and pity (she is deaf in one ear from an accident in her childhood). Zendaya hits the exact mark, portraying a woman who has clawed her way out of such a dark past but has not done the active work to address those demons head-on. She is fully disconnected from her past self, forcing Charlie and the audience to question whether people can become productive members of society after going through something so unforgivable. The audience can constantly feel her anguish as she tries to keep everything steady, reminding Charlie that they are in love and can get through this. Emma might be Zendaya’s most difficult character to date, and she absolutely embraces that challenge, allowing the audience to both empathize with, judge, and potentially forgive her.
Together, the chemistry between Pattinson and Zendaya is fierce but also tightly controlled. Every microexpression is a calculated choice that can be analyzed and perceived in multiple ways. Borgli offers them lengthy scenes to allow them to play off one another. The conflict between a character trying to understand why and another who refuses to acknowledge their past is deeply frustrating for both parties. But thanks to Pattinson and Zendaya’s very strong performances, we know these two decisions are necessary for each character’s survival, even if they jeopardize their ability to remain a couple. It is like watching two extreme athletes volley back and forth, resulting in an exceptionally entertaining game. Additionally, Alana Haim and Mamoudou Athie bring great comedic and dramatic moments as friends with differentiating opinions on the situation. Zoë Winters once again proves she is one of the best character actors, completely understanding the film’s tone and purpose as the wedding photographer, and Hailey Benton Gates also gets plenty to play with in her few scenes.
After seeing their DJ smoking a potentially illegal substance on the street, Emma and Charlie have a brief fight over whether to fire her. “We could have caught her on her worst day,” Emma states. “But you caught her,” Charlie replies. “The Drama” is about our ability to forgive and believe that people can grow and be more than their worst mistake, which is a lot easier said than done. Can we, as a society, radically accept someone for who they are today, despite who they were? This is a fascinating question, a ripe one to ask in a narrative, and, for the most part, Borgli succeeds in addressing the multiple sides of the query that will entice many heated post-movie conversations. However, using a highly sensitive subject matter to filter this debate and serve as a source of comedic moments is distasteful, to say the least.
