By Melinda Kern and Elizabeth Fitzpatrick
Elm Staff Writer and Features Editor
“The Drama,” released in theaters April 3, takes a look at relationships and the commitment of marriage.
The film follows Charlie (Robert Pattinson) and Emma (Zendaya) in the week leading up to their wedding. At a last-minute dinner with their best man and maid of honor, Mike (Mamoudou Athie) and Rachel (Alana Haim), each character reveals a secret: the worst thing they ever did.
The entire movie hinges around the secret that Emma reveals, which readers will have to watch the film to discover. Stunned by the revelation, Charlie wonders if he really knows Emma as well as he thinks, trying to decide if he can still go through with the wedding. Meanwhile Emma becomes increasingly paranoid that Rachel has shared her secret with all the wedding guests.
In addition to being a fascinating and funny character drama, the film uses non-linear storytelling and naturalistic dialogue to explore the questions of if it is possible for a person to change and if a person is defined by the worst thing they ever did, let alone thought about doing.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, “Charlie’s perspective is favored. He is a stand-in for us in the audience, collectively participating in a what-would-you-do thought experiment.”
The film plays with the inherent performance of the wedding ceremony, the extravagant pre-wedding rituals that distract Emma and Charlie from sorting out their problems, and the way they must pretend they are still a happy couple with nothing wrong.
According to Variety, “The way [director and writer Kristoffer Borgli] gradually ups the cringe-comedy factor in ‘The Drama’ keeps [viewers] watching. Some of the movie is an acid satire of pre-wedding rituals — like the first dance that Charlie and Emma are dutifully rehearsing for, with a ridiculously stern taskmaster of a coach.”
The wedding continuing on as Emma and Charlie spiral deeper into anxiety and paranoia provides a comedic dramatic irony that balances with the heavy subject matter. Yet, some viewers have found the way the film handles the heavy subject matter lacking.
The way the other characters, particularly Rachel, jump to conclusions about Emma’s revelation feels racially informed as Rachel is played by a white woman and Emma is played by a Black woman, and yet the film never acknowledges this aspect. For a film entirely interested in the relationships between characters, this lack of engagement is a gaping oversight.
According to NPR, “[‘The Drama’] could offer an explosively rich characterization for Zendaya to sink her teeth into, an opportunity to explore and express a Black woman’s anger and depression through narrative roads least traversed. But it’s worth noting that the actress and her team asked to be considered for the role as the screenplay was making the rounds; Borgli did not necessarily conceive of it with her or any Black actress in mind. As such, the part is frustratingly restrained and misaligned with the bold concept the movie presents.”
The film’s unwillingness or inability to narratively integrate its star’s racial background in any meaningful way feels like a detriment to a film that presents itself as entirely willing to ask difficult questions of its characters.
Even so, the film is a crazy ride, eliciting lots of laughs, gasps, and edge-of-your-seat tension, with plenty to discuss after the credits roll.
Photo Caption: Robert Pattinson starred as soon-to-be-married Charlie in A24 film “The Drama.”
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons