GCN contributor David Ferguson reviews the emotional drag film Solo, which screened at this year’s GAZE Film Festival.

The GAZE Film Festival is always a must-attend event, but this year it proved extra special as the organisers invited French actor Félix Maritaud to attend as part of a screening of his latest film, Solo. I became a fan of his work, ironically enough, at a previous year’s GAZE while watching Sauvage, a role the actor compared to his latest one in his post-screening interview. A similarity that does not go unnoticed when watching the new film.

Solo tells the story of Simon (Théodore Pellerin), a young drag queen in Montreal who is drawn into a romance with newcomer Oliver (Félix Maritaud). The film is directed by Sophie Dupuis, who has since come out as queer, a decision influenced by the process of making the movie.

Dupuis had previously worked with Pellerin on the 2018 film Family First. Pellerin has said that Dupuis asked him after the production what roles he would like to play in the future and he said a drag queen. Dupuis partly wrote Solo for him and has stated, “For the first time, I could see an actor’s face in my head when I was writing a screenplay. That had never happened to me before.”

During their discussions about the film, they came up with the idea of proposing Oliver’s role to Maritaud, having seen him in BPM and Sauvage. The director was scared of what the French actor’s response might be, sharing: “Knowing that he’s well-known and involved in the LGBTQIA2+ community in Paris, I was terrified of sending him my script. I was going to take his response as a decision: if he didn’t like it, it meant the story wasn’t relevant.” Maritaud loved the script.

Dupuis met with queer actors and drag artists in order to create the film’s drag group. Meeting with hundreds of people, she heard testimonials with “each day being more touching than the last.” The cast includes drag performers like Marc-André Leclair, aka Tracy Trash, as Simon’s fellow performer Nicolas. Dupuis’ process is one in which she does not present a finished script at the outset; instead, she solicits input from the actors. Describing her process, Pellerin said: “It’s not the usual process of reading something that is finished, having an emotional reaction or connection to the character, and then developing the part based on that reaction.”

This process shows through in the final film as the characters feel authentic and the dialogue natural. Pellerin captures an interesting balance between the show mood of his character in drag and his more vulnerable public persona. Maritaud is equally captivating in playing the narcissistic Oliver. The character is so charming at first, but we gradually see his flaws, such as his veiled criticisms and eventual gaslighting of Simon.

It was often a difficult watch for me as Oliver slowly chips away at Simon, both in their drag act and their personal relationship. The drag queens perform in an environment free of homophobia, so the drama revolves around their personal relationships. Pellerin commented, “It’s great to have a film where the problematic is not the queerness of the characters and we are just exploring a love story. Drag and the queerness are the environment, but it’s not a social commentary on queer people and their place in society.”

The film also deals with Simon’s familial relationships with the return of his absent mother, Claire (Anne-Marie Cadieux). In addition, his relationship with the rest of his family, mainly his sister Maude (Alice Moreault), becomes strained due to Oliver’s manipulations.

Solo was a difficult watch at times, but that says a lot about the work of the creators involved. I could hear audible reactions from the audience to Oliver’s verbal manipulations. The film is definitely well worth your time.

It is also worth mentioning the short that was played before the main feature, Izzy Aman: The Joy of Drag. The film features Isabel Adomakoh Young being interviewed to camera intercut with genderfluid performances as their drag king persona, Izzy Aman. Young performs as part of the drag king collective Pecs Drag Kings.

It was interesting to hear the perspective of someone who performs as a drag king, as they don’t get as much coverage as drag queens. There is also the added layer of someone who identifies as genderfluid working in drag and hearing their feelings on that. The short was directed by award-winning director Isabella Walton.