Since his breakout performance in “1917,” George Mackay has surprised audiences with several challenging roles. Sure, he did “Munich – The Edge Of War,” another historical drama, two years later. But he’s also done stuff like “Wolf” and “I Came By,” two performances that may cause some audience members to bristle.
Add “Femme” to the list there. In the erotic revenge thriller, Mackay plays a closeted gay man in London who viciously attacks Nathan Stewart Jarrett‘s drag artist Jules while out with his friends. Later, Jules recognizes his attacker at a gay sauna and sees a chance to get some payback.
Here’s an official synopsis for “Femme,” which had its world premiere at the Berlinale earlier this year:
With his performances as Aphrodite Banks, Jules has a place among London’s celebrated drag artists. One night after a show, he steps out to get some cigarettes and is brutally attacked by a guy out with a gang of blokes. Although Jules is able to recover physically, he withdraws from the outside world, traumatised. Months later, he recognises his attacker by chance in a gay sauna. Without make-up and wrapped only in a towel, Jules is able to approach the other man incognito and find out who he is. He begins an affair with the closeted homosexual Preston in order to take his revenge.
Along with Mackay and Stewart-Jarrett, “Femme” also stars Aaron Heffernan, John McCrea, Asha Reid, Peter Clements, Antonia Clarke, and Moe Bar-El.
Sam H. Freeman & Ng Choon Ping co-direct and co-write their debut, a feature-length adaptation of their 2021 short of the same name. Producers on the film include Sam Ritzenberg and Myles Payne, with Hayley Williams and Dimitris Birbilis as co-producers. Excecutive producers include Marnie Podos, Eva Yates, Sebastien Raybaud, Kate Maxwell, David Staniland, and Harriet Harper-Jones.
“Femme” hits theaters in the UK on December 1, but stay tuned for new on its UK theatrical release. Watch a trailer for the film below (and read The Playlist’s review of the film out of Berlin here).
