The Drama

Ben Pivoz
a few seconds ago
3 min read

How well can two people ever truly know each other? We can know someone for many years, spend every day together, be intimate with them, and still parts of us will remain a mystery to them. Maybe it is something we no longer identify with. Or it could be a piece we are ashamed of. If it got out, would it change the way they feel about us?

The dark dramedy The Drama is a shallow exploration of this idea. One half of a couple begins to wonder if their partner is who they thought they were after learning of a disturbing chapter from their past. It raises a lot of questions about love, gender, mental health, youth and the ability to grow/change, satirizing these concepts and declining to do anything with them, besides using them to mock a generation claiming to be more in touch with their feelings.

Writer/director/editor/executive producer Kristoffer Borgli heightens everything by rattling them with a very charged topic. He is being intentionally provocative, but seems to have little he actually wants to say. He puts his characters through a lot of emotional trauma, creating a few intriguing moments, mostly because of some unorthodox filmmaking techniques and a strong performance. Yet, in the end, The Drama (102 minutes, minus the end credits) gets the occasional awkward laugh, then leaves its audience without anything to take away from it. This could have inspired thoughtful conversations; instead, it will largely inspire annoyance.

Charlie and Emma are days away from their wedding. The way they discuss their feelings for each other isn’t deep, but it seems genuine. While food-tasting with their best friends, they all decide to confess the worst thing they’ve ever done. What Emma reveals shocks them and results in Charlie having second thoughts about whether or not he wants to spend the rest of his life with this woman.

I don’t want to spoil Emma’s secret, since it is what the entire plot hinges on, so I’ll just say that it is something the vast majority of people have never even considered and it is understandably difficult for Charlie to wrap his head around. What really begins to build the drama of The Drama is Charlie’s determination to find excuses for Emma’s decade-and-a-half-old behavior, instead of listening and trying to comprehend where she was at the time, versus who she was when he met her. He tries to pretend that it doesn’t bother him, refusing to admit how it makes him feel. With the stress of the wedding upon him, he makes some tremendously stupid decisions so he can continue to hold himself and his bride-to-be above everybody else.

Though Emma is the one with the horrific secret, Charlie is the one who comes off as unlikeable. I am a very big fan of Robert Pattinson; however, he has a hard time making Charlie’s hypocrisy interesting thanks to a screenplay that gives him no depth to work with. He claims to love Emma, yet struggles to see her as a complicated person with flaws. If he would stop making it about him and just talk to her, he would avoid so much trouble. Then the movie would have been focused on how true his love is for her, as opposed to the path Borgli chose to go down.

Emma is a richer character, less because of how she is written (she has a little more to work with, but is still treated as a symbol rather than a person) and more because Zendaya is so good at non-verbal communication. She is like a wounded bird who wants to be loved. Charlie’s reaction almost confirms her fears that she doesn’t deserve it. There is a softness to her that she can use to disarm, as she did in Challengers. Here she uses it to show pain and embarrassment at who she was at fifteen. It is a good performance in a movie that doesn’t seem to want it.

Kristoffer Borgli seems interested in providing sharp social satire. He did a decent job of it in Dream Scenario, using a broader and easier target. This needed better focus, especially considering how triggering the subject matter can be. He fires in all directions, only managing to hit a few times.

2¾ out of 5

Cast:

Zendaya as Emma

Robert Pattinson as Charlie

Alana Haim as Rachel

Mamoudou Athie as Mike

Written/Directed by Kristoffer Borgli