Fantastic Fest 2024: Queens of Drama brings the tunes, the camp and the pathos

Courtesy Fantastic Fest

This is part of our coverage from Fantastic Fest 2024 in Austin, TX where genre films are debuting before they get wider release. Check out all of our coverage here. 

Imagine if Kaboom-era Gregg Araki made Velvet Goldmine, but set in the early aughts and focused on pop divas. If that sounds like your jam, the brazenly queer Queens of Drama is the movie you never knew you needed. Alexis Langlois’ music industry satire knows exactly what it wants to be and who its audience is. If that audience isn’t you, it doesn’t care.

Queens of Drama begins in 2055 as former YouTube star Steevyshady (Bilal Hassani) reemerges to celebrate the 50th anniversary of French singer Mimi Madamour’s (Louiza Aura) hit song “Pas Touche!” (“Don’t Touch!”), and tell the full story of the love affair between Mimi and fellow musician Billie Kohler (Gio Ventura). In the world of the film, this is a story that rocked the music world — and one Steevy themselves played a not-so-glamorous part in.

Flashing back to 2005, the story drops into the lives of Mimi and Billie as they meet during auditions for a singing competition. The two couldn’t be more different (Billie’s a punk, Mimi’s a pop singer), but they connect over their shared love of an obscure singer. As the pair’s love grows, a homophobic industry requires Mimi to either lead a closeted existence or give up her lifelong dream of stardom.

Queens of Drama takes particular aim at the young pop starlets that get hoisted up to mega-stardom early on, but who are then abandoned as soon as the industry deems them irrelevant. It dedicates the same energy to dismantling the American Idol machine through the in-world version, “Starlets Factory.”

The idea behind Queens of Drama is strong in itself, but how does the music hold up? Rest assured, Chappell Roan would certainly approve. Langlois and their collaborators gleefully dive into the genre with the confidence and skill of movies like Popstar and This is Spinal Tap. You can’t go wrong when a ballad called “Fist” includes the chorus “You fisted me to my heart” and “Dilated like a succubus.” Mimi’s aforementioned hit echoes “Hit Me Baby One More Time,” one of several Britney-esque references throughout the film. If the film’s big breakup song were released in the real world, it’d be a chart-topper.

Langlois uses his experience shooting music videos to lend Queens of Drama a sense of authenticity. Here, his command of tone and directly stated intent is impressive for a feature debut. He dresses up the film with camp performances and a candy-colored scheme for the more heightened sections. He also gives equal attention to the human lives caught up in this story. Both Mimi and Billie are fully realized characters, not just caricatures.

Queens of Drama is a triumph through and through, but it feels particularly special in the subgenre of queer film. Its vibes harken back to cult classics like Hedwig and the Angry Inch—equal parts camp and genuine drama, highlighted by catchy tunes and fantastic performances. It’s both the kind of movie people mean when they say “they don’t make them like this anymore” and a sparkling diva all its very own.