Secrets, lies, and repercussions are at the forefront of Kristoffer Borgli’s uncomfortable new film, The Drama. With Zendaya and Robert Pattinson giving career-best turns and a screenplay that pins its audience to the edge of their seats (as if they were watching a thriller), Borgli gives a shot of adrenaline to 2026 cinema.
Zendaya and Pattinson are a couple who “meet-cute” in a coffee shop and soon fall in love. After a time, the two plan a wedding; a happy event that will be thrown into a tailspin after a confession regarding someone’s past.
Written by the director, The Drama is Borgli’s most artistically cynical work to date. With his first two features (2022’s Sick of Myself and 2023’s Dream Scenario), Borgli used askew narratives to poke at the hypocrisy and inherent viciousness of humanity. His latest work takes aim at the oft-asked question, “How well do we truly know someone?” More pointedly, the piece questions the validity found by n the vow, “For better or worse.”
Emma (Zendaya) and Charlie (Pattinson) are, by all accounts, happy with one another and with their upcoming nuptials. Love isn’t easy. Wedding prep is hectic. The last thing any engaged couple needs is more stress, especially on their emotions. Taking the picture to a wild left turn, Borgli’s screenplay peppers the driven big cityA24 couple’s surroundings with a few bad omens that lead them to walk an uneven path.
The two catch their wedding DJ (Sydney Lemmon) smoking heroin (or what they perceive to be heroin) on the street. A day or so later, Emma and Charlie are with their best friends (Mamoudou Athie) and his wife Rachel (Alana Haim). The group is at a fancy restaurant tasting dishes for their wedding reception. All is well and the four are merry and getting merrier on expensive wine.
Rachel wants them to play a game (of sorts) and confess to one another the worst thing they have ever done. Everyone pretty much pushes back, but the game begins. No one’s proposed sins are too awful, but a certain character’s reveal will test the strength of friendship and the upcoming marriage between Emma and Charlie.
Zendaya and Pattinson share an intimate chemistry that endears both Emma and Charlie to the audience. Charlie is a mannered Brit who seems to lack confidence. Emma brings out the best in him; even playing a certain song to lift Charlie’s spirits when he is down. In one of the film’s best lines, Charlie states how Emma can, “turn my drama into a comedy.”
The two actors are flawless in their navigation of the many layers in which the screenplay designs Emma and Charlie. Their stunning work grounds the film during moments where Borgli might teeter on the precipice of over-the-top.
Borgli gives The Drama one hell of a final act that sits comfortably somewhere in between the films of Ingmar Bergman and Neil LaBute. As the film’s themes reach the script’s moral crossroads, the film sends its characters through a gauntlet of unbearable humiliation and vicious comeuppance. The climax is not played for shock value. Kristoffer Borgli is too smart a filmmaker. There is weight to every directorial choice and dramatic beat.
This is the type of work that will certainly divide audiences. Some will welcome a film that brings about harsh questions about surviving relationships. Others (Twilight fans, be warned) will hope for an offbeat romantic comedy. While there are some laughs, they are not of the “ha-ha” nature. Nervous laughter is the most apt description.
There is a lot to say about such an adventurous relationship film, but it wouldn’t be fair to spoil any important twist or turn. Borgli has crafted such a consistently interesting surprise of a film that grows more involving with each reveal.
Gripping, brutally honest, and (at times) surprisingly romantic, The Drama is a bold and emotionally adventurous picture.
The Drama
Written & Directed by Kristoffer Borgli
Starring Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Mamoudou Athie, Alana Haim
R, 106 Minutes, A24
