With a performance at Coachella and the release of the hit single “Good Luck, Babe,” Chappell Roan became a near overnight sensation in April 2024. She was glamorous, campy, over-the-top, and the epitome of queer pop. This may seem like an odd place to start a film review, but while watching Queens of Drama
, I could not stop thinking about the connection between Roan’s stardom and film’s themes.
Queens of Drama has one of the stranger movie openings I have seen in a while. The movie introduces Steevy Shady (played by Eurovision star Bilal Hassani), a superfan of the fictional lesbian pop star Mimi Madamour (Louiza Aura). Steevy then serves as the narrator for the film, taking us through Mimi’s rise to fame in the early 2000s and fraught romance with fellow performer Billie Kohler (Gio Ventura). The film goes on to become a musical epic that spans five decades, wrapping up in the future in 2055.
Originally premiering at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2024, Alexis Langlois’ directorial debut was not created in direct response to the Roan fandom. Now existing in conversation with her and the rising acceptance of queer pop, Queens of Drama is a glitzy and cinematic dive into a subculture immersed in identity and discovery. And while it is easy on the eyes and a fascinating descent into chaos, the film’s results are inconsistent.
The Campy Aesthetics Of Queens Of Drama Shine
Langlois Draws Upon A Wide Variety Of Influences
In the opening frames of Queens of Drama, I did not really know what this movie was going to be. Steevy’s 2055 YouTube-esque setup is almost unnervingly garish, emanating a sense of artificiality as the character is introduced as a Mimi Madamour superfan who also happens to be the narrator of the film. The 2005 past Langlois transitions to is also hyperstylized, if less immediately extravagant.
The visual style evolves with Billie and Mimi throughout the course of their 50-year love story, and I respect Langlois for fully committing to the intense color scheme and lighting. Everything is articulately and meticulously placed, from stage lights to the colors of trash bags in a key fight scene between Billie and Mimi in the film’s second act. In its various eras, it is able to weave through real-life periods like 2005 and 2015, paying tribute to the clothing styles and aesthetics of each era.
As it transitions into the future, Queens of Drama becomes a queer imagining of a campy, gaudy future wherein Mimi Madamour is sort of this alternate universe, closeted Chappell Roan. Langlois is pulling from a lot here, probably more than I can understand in one viewing. From what I did see, the director seems to be combing the low-budget glam of John Waters with the color-imbued cinematics of Douglas Sirk’s melodramas, while creating something new in its style-blended future. These visual elements are fascinating to absorb, and by far the strongest element of the film.
The Film Struggles To Find Its Tonal Blend
It Is Hard To Take Any Drama Seriously
The unique stylistic combinations are so consistent that they avoid any hint of being slapdash, instead fitting together with an inexplicable seamlessness. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same about the movie’s tone. The film is billed as a musical romantic comedy, though it is far more genre-ambiguous than it seems. And at times, it navigates this very well, finding humor in ridiculous song lyrics and unrealistically intense character moments.
Queens of Drama is at its best when it is the most over-the-top, and it should have stayed in that place more often.
Where the Queens of Drama struggles, however, is its drama. While its camp aesthetic gives me a sense that nothing in the movie is meant to be taken too seriously, I could not help but be dissatisfied by the dramatic sequences. While their attachment to each other is gloriously toxic, Mimi and Billie do go through some legitimate relationship ups and downs that seem to warrant more gravity. The chaotic cuts back to Steevy’s narration and sharply contrasting scenes edited next to each other, however, left me confused about how to feel about these more serious sequences.
Queens Of Drama Is At Its Best When It Is The Most Over-the-Top
And It Should Have Stayed In That Place More
The failure of the movie’s dramatic sequences led me to a simple conclusion: Queens of Drama is at its best when it is the most over-the-top, and it should have stayed in that place more often. For example, the fact that obsessed fan Steevy, who develops a parasocial relationship with Mimi, is the narrator of the film is a unique structural choice for the film. But in the end, the character is very underutilized, undermining what could have been a great payoff in the final moments.
Ultimately, Queens of Drama is a film that is both too chaotic — in a tonal sense — and not chaotic enough. With ridiculously sexualized lyrics like “you fisted me to the heart” in the recurring song appropriately titled “Fisting,” I couldn’t help but enjoy the wild ride. The film did not nail it in many regards, but it is a truly entertaining tribute to queer pop and obsessed fandoms. Queens of Drama is, in the end, a delightful hot mess.