Queens of Drama: Pop, Punk, and Queer Love

Sporting pink-hued wraparound sunglasses, a grisly asymmetrical blond-streaked hairstyle, and some operatively enhanced cheekbones, Steevy is bordered by posters and souvenirs of the pop diva from their youth to which their network is devoted: Mimi Madamour. Langlois’ choice of narrative structure to inform the story of the sizzling romance in between teen pop idolizer Mimi (Louiza Aura) and punk icon Billie Kohler (Gio Ventura) promptly announces what kind of glimmering confection his movie strives to be. Langlois plainly desires us to live within the world of 2000s pop diva fandom. Much to Steevy’s annoyance, however, there’s no way to trace Mimi’s fame without additionally tracking how Mimi initially grew in the arms of a young ambitious musician that seems designed on “Twilight”-age Kristen Stewart. Within the movie’s glittering absurdity, Langlois shows us how easily the monster that was popularity and fandom might transform on women like Mimi and Billie.

Early 2000s Pop Music Aesthetic

We are currently far enough gotten rid of from the glittercore of very early 2000s pop music that its bubble-gum aesthetic has actually ended up being as powerful a post-Y2K period signifier as low-rise jeans and blonde highlights. French filmmaker Alexis Langlois’ deliciously campy music “Queens of Dramatization” feels like it’s been created inside a Claire’s store where “… Child Again” keeps having fun on loophole. This terrible queer love tale in between a pop star and a punk rocker does not let the patina of fond memories that envelops it shadow the thorny concepts regarding queerness, performance, feminism and womanhood that Langlois loads into his gleefully mad period item.

Much to Steevy’s shame, nonetheless, there’s no way to map Mimi’s fame without additionally tracking how Mimi initially bloomed in the arms of a young aspiring musician that appears designed on “Twilight”-period Kristen Stewart. Mimi is quiet and demure, and consequently fairly malleable by songs officers.

Mimi’s Fame and Billie’s Raw Performance

Billie’s act is raw, sensuous and extreme. She executes while gladly baring her chest binders and lustfully bellows regarding bicycle rider women while offering Mimi (in the audience, utterly petrified) with a butt plug she pulls right out of her very own behind. One’s a little bit pop star, the various other’s a bit of a punk icon.

Sporting pink-hued wraparound sunglasses, a ghastly asymmetrical blond-streaked coiffure, and some operatively improved cheekbones, Steevy is surrounded by posters and souvenirs of the pop diva from their youth to which their network is committed: Mimi Madamour. The year is 2055 and, while they may have once been “the sharpest Botox needle in the box” (think Perez Hilton), Steevy has actually mellowed enough to establish the document right on what hindered Mimi’s profession all those years previously.

Langlois deals with Billie and Mimi’s romance as a kind of impressive disaster, with Steevy as a constant Greek chorus to aid it along. There’s lots of drama to go about– especially as soon as gossipy talk show hosts, cruel vloggers and also cheesy drag queens sign up with in on the action to tear its titular dramatization queens to shreds.

The Monster of Fandom and Public Image

Within the film’s glittering absurdity, Langlois reveals us just how easily the beast that was popularity and fandom could turn on ladies like Mimi and Billie. Both locate reality and retreat from the music they produce. Yet they each struggle with how to measure up to the general public photos (using singles and wigs, music videos and live performances) they’ve developed for themselves. How popularity and the closet collide becomes an essential passion of the movie. In this, the spreading of Asia Argento, as a pop diva past her prime who herself may have rejected a women enthusiast of hers who was as soon as a punk siren, is proof of this French musical’s jokingly perceptiveness.

Langlois’ selection of narrative framework to tell the tale of the torrid love between teen pop idol Mimi (Louiza Aura) and punk symbol Billie Kohler (Gio Ventura) quickly reveals what sort of flashing confection his film desires be. Langlois plainly desires us to live within the world of 2000s pop queen fandom. That atmosphere provided rise (and after that took down) the likes of Britney Spears, a figure “Queens of Dramatization” apes in rather apparent ways. There is a lush devotion to a world where Mimi’s success in a TV talent competition transforms her into a midriff-baring singing sensation comparable to timid Britney, yet additionally French vocalists like Lorie and Ophélie Winter Months.

The heartbreak and breakup that complies with ends up being only table-setting for the movie’s latter fifty percent. Years later on, both previous lovers discover themselves one more time in the limelight when a spruced up (new hair, face-lift), if still angered, Billie reemerges to come to be a globally sensation in her own best all set to settle some old ratings.

As their love blooms, so does Mimi’s profession. Eventually, she needs to urge Billie not show up at her music video fires. Their closeted relationship may well cost her the international fandom she’s gradually amassing after ironing and dyeing her hair and putting on a good-girl act for the video cameras.

“If you don’t like intense drama, explosive feelings, unbridled romanticism, drippy cosmetics, and above all, heart-wrenching tunes,” Steevy cautions us early on, after that Mimi and Billie’s story is most likely not for you. The only method to delight in “Queens of Drama” is to give up to its extras. Which discusses why it functions so flawlessly as a bold lesbian melodrama best informed in pop and punk numbers. Also when they don’t have radio-ready titles or lyrics, Pierre Desprat’s tracks make “Queens of Drama” feel like a natural musical in its very own right.

Drama, Romance, and Heart-Wrenching Tunes

Like a well-choreographed drag number that recognizes that to mock is to enjoy– which you can never ever have way too much radiance on if you want to impress under a disco ball– “Queens of Dramatization” is a wink of a good time. Then again, just how can you not be won over by a film that makes its central enchanting tune (“Fistée jusqu’au coeur”) into an equally tender and enthusiastic ode to fisting?