Drama, Thriller, Comedy Romance: How A24’s The Drama Crosses Genres to Teach us about Empathy and Forgiveness
Warning: Spoilers ahead.
You would imagine, from the title, that Kristoffer Borgli’s, The Drama, is in fact a drama as it says on the tin, and yet, it seems to be a drama, thriller, horror, comedy, romance and political commentary rolled into one.
The way the film, which sees a couple’s wedding preparations sent sideways when the bride-to-be makes a shocking revelation, shifts genre throughout, is its greatest strength.
In just 105 minutes, Borgli allows us to laugh, cry and gasp and presents a candid investigation into empathy, forgiveness and what it means to love someone unconditionally.
The film opens as a charming, if awkward, narration of Charlie (Robert Pattinson) and Emma (Zendaya) meeting, falling in love and, in the present day, preparing for their fast-approaching wedding. One preparation is an elegant evening of wine tasting, with friends and an already married couple, Rachel (Hailey Gates) and Mike (Mamoudou Athie), who introduce the question that must be answered before any couple ties the knot: What is the worst thing you’ve ever done?
Emma’s confession ‘‘I like… almost did a mass shooting, changes everything.
Charlie laughs in disbelief.
Rachel is disgusted and openly verbal about it.
Mike attempts to act as a peacemaker.
Wine is spilt.
Emma projectile vomits.
Everywhere.
Suddenly the charming Boston romance is a distant memory, and the film ignites into a thriller of paranoia, confusion and shock.
We live the morning and days after the confession from Charlie’s perspective, in a mix of present-day narration, flashbacks of young Emma (Jordyn Curet), and what can only be described as Charlie’s nightmare of what the future could look like.
Violent imagery, subtle and shocking, aids the audience’s experience of Charlie's paranoia spiral, as he questions what his future will look like, and more urgently whether he is safe.
We see the same wedding preparations but in the context of the new twisted reality. Photography sessions, florist visits and dance lessons are now disturbing, as the film maintains a dark, awkward humour, alongside its thrilling elements.
Like the shifts in genre, Borgli refuses to let us indulge in one character's perspective for too long. As we piece together what led Emma to plan the shooting, in a mix of present-day conversations and young Emma flashbacks, we watch Charlie move through confusion, anger and disdain, and equally we see Emma in her discomfort, regret and exhaustion. Emma’s fear that the wedding is off and her pleading for them to not talk about ‘it’, sees Charlie begin to accept their new reality, even defending her to others by over-emphasising the trauma of her childhood. His ‘forgiveness’ at this point, and his insistence that the wedding go on, seems ingenuine and merely an attempt to manage the chaos the couple finds themselves in.
Just as the film seems to settle back into a steady romance, it turns again.
A book of photographs of women in bikinis holding weapons appears mysteriously on Charlie’s desk at the art museum where he works as head curator, reigniting his paranoia.
Its arrival sends him into a breakdown, visualising his future wife as the promiscuous, dangerous models in the book, and momentarily cheating on her with his assistant Misha (Hailey Gates).
His bizarre, emotional frenzy provides a clever twist, as we become unsettled with who we see as the villain. Charlie’s infidelity, even if brief and regretful, is actually committed, whereas Emma never carried out her plan. In all her flaws, Emma has at least been loyal.
Here Borgli has thrown us a new dilemma, holding Emma and Charlie's mistakes side by side: one a truly terrible plan that never actually came to fruition, and the other, a lesser evil but one that was actually committed, and asks if both are forgivable.
This movie is swirling with discussion of right and wrong, and forgiveness and acceptance, and unconditional love. Imagery, subtle and not so subtle, helps aid this exploration, as do intentional side characters and subplots. An awkward encounter between Charlie and Rachel’s cousin Sam, who is in a wheelchair as the result of an actual school shooting, brings us to Rachel’s instant moral outrage and allows us to linger in it. Rachel is unforgiving throughout and offers a valuable opportunity for us to explore our anger at being deceived and lied to by someone trusted.
Rachel’s stubbornness provides an example of where unconditional love has its limits, and although not romantic, Emma’s confessions cost her the love and respect Rachel once had for her.
Borgli’s subplots and side characters are deliberate; for all the complex questions he presents, he offers a range of perspectives or answers. Even allowing us to be hypocritical and contradictory, by agreeing with multiple characters' conflicting views.
The ending of the film brings us full circle, as we somewhat return to romance, less of a charming romance but nonetheless a romance. Both Emma and Charlie have fled their own wedding, equally broken and dishevelled, and have ended up at a diner. For the second time in their movie, we see the couple sitting across from each other. Alike to their first date, despite everything that has occurred since, the couple choose to start again.
Comments