The realistic film serves several genres: RomCom, psychodrama and black comedy.
What do you do if the person you want to marry reveals information shortly before the wedding that calls into question everything you thought you knew about him or her? This is exactly the question Robert Pattinson (39) has to face as Charlie in “The Drama – Back to Beginning”.
At the beginning the audience still thinks they are in a light RomCom. The relationship between Charlie and Emma (Zendaya, 29) is told in quick, charming scenes: Pattinson plays the slightly insecure nerd with a touch of young Hugh Grant, while Zendaya effortlessly fulfills the image of the enchanting manic pixie dream girl. Until a drinking game turns everything upside down. With a confession that will deliberately not be spoiled here, Emma blows up the reality of her relationship – and the film with it.
No more RomCom
From this moment on, nothing is easy anymore. The RomCom is over, not just for the characters but also for the audience. While the wedding preparations continue relentlessly, Charlie begins to experience an inner state of emergency. Mistrust eats into every memory, every gesture is re-evaluated. Can you really know a person? Or do you always just love the version you built of yourself?
The film finds powerful images to answer these questions. Dream sequences, flashbacks and alternative realities reflect Charlie’s increasing insecurity and make his loss of control tangible. At the same time, he desperately tries to reorganize his moral standards without losing himself. And the perfectly crafted wedding speech suddenly becomes a construction site.
Director and screenwriter Kristoffer Borgli repeatedly forces the audience to position themselves. Without giving away the central secret: it is difficult to classify Emma morally. Zendaya’s face simultaneously conveys innocence and vulnerability, while her actions speak of anger and unpredictability, keeping the character in a state of limbo that disturbs and fascinates.
Hostile maids of honor and very bad timing
“The Drama” finally reaches its climax – unsurprisingly and yet consistently – at the wedding. What escalates here is less a celebration than an emotional battlefield: hostile maids of honor, speeches without congratulations, rumors spreading, too many drinks, bad timing and poor coping strategies that lead to ridiculous situations. This creates moments that tip between tragedy and absurdity.
All of this is negotiated in a wild mix of genres. Even if the title, cast and the harmless trailer suggest an entertaining romantic comedy, some of the audience are likely to leave the film disturbed. “The Drama” is very little RomCom, but a lot of psychodrama and black comedy. And therefore perhaps the most realistic love film of all time.
4 out of 5 disturbing drinking games