‘Femme’ Ending Explained & Movie Recap: Does Jules Take His Revenge On Preston?

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Femme puts me in a dilemma here. The hundred-minute-long revenge thriller is very addictive from start to finish. So much that I couldn’t put it down for a moment. Yet, to some, it might come off as a story that is grossly problematic. I’m using the term “to some” because I am unsure how I feel about it myself. I completely believe in artistic freedom, and I don’t think the director duo, Ng Choon Ping and Sam H. Freeman, was trying to make the audience feel a little sorry for George MacKay’s closeted homophobic bad guy here. But maybe because of MacKay’s arresting performance, it could look that way. The actor shouldn’t be blamed here; he’s a fantastic performer who’s expectedly brilliant here, in a role that’s completely against his usual type. Anyhow, I’m just going to explain Femme‘s ending to you in this article. It’s up to you how you want to perceive it. 

Spoilers Ahead


What Happens in the Movie?

Openly gay Jules works proudly as drag queen Aphrodite Bang at a London club. One night while returning home after a performance, still in drag-queen attire, he finds this hyper-masculine dude lustfully looking at him. Moments later, Jules gets into an argument with a bunch of men, including the guy who was checking him out. When Jules calls out this dude, Preston, for his behavior earlier in front of his very homophobic, manly friends, Preston loses his marbles and beats Jules black and blue. Following the assault, Jules stops working as a drag queen and finds it really hard to move forward with life. One day, at a gay sauna, he randomly comes across Preston—unmistakably the same uncouth hothead he was on that night, only obviously gay. It’s understandable that Preston doesn’t recognize Jules, as he only saw him in the drag queen get-up. From there on, you know what’s going to happen. You know where it’s going. Jules is going to take his revenge on his abuser. How that happens is the crux of this story.


Does Jules Get Into A Relationship With Preston? 

It is a given, right? Of course, Preston is a wild animal, one Jules has to tame in order to complete his mission. That doesn’t happen overnight, as you would expect. Jules runs his seduction game and ends up at Preston’s friend Oz’s flat. Yes, this is one of the friends who was present when Preston assaulted Jules. Just when Jules and Preston are about to go at it, Oz and company arrive. Preston is understandably anxious, but Jules handles the situation by pretending to be Preston’s “very straight” mate from prison. Given Oz and company’s IQ level is not much higher than zero, Jules easily sells it. Preston is impressed; he wants to meet Jules again. Soon, they’re on a date at a restaurant. There’s a visible dom-sub dynamic between the two, with Preston being the dominant and Jules being the submissive one, expectedly. All while this is happening, we see Jules exploring gay porn videos on the internet—especially the ones where closeted gays are outed. It becomes very clear to us what Jules is trying to do here. However, when he tries to pull it off by trying to film one of their erotic romps, Preston gets extremely mad. I do believe Jules only did that intentionally, especially if you consider what follows after. Preston is afraid about his real self-getting out, and he admits that he has anger issues. This is the first instance of him showing his vulnerable side and Jules effectively turning the tables on him. The power dynamic between Jules and Preston also changes from this moment, for sure.


Does Jules Take His Revenge On Preston?

Here’s where the problem lies. There comes a point in the final act when Jules starts feeling bad about Preston. That comes after realizing the worst of Preston comes out when he’s with his toxic friends, i.e., Oz and company. The more Jules gets involved with Preston’s friends, the more safe Preston starts feeling in the relationship. Jules beating all the friends of Preston in a video game while playing as a woman has to be a carefully placed allegory here. Given he’s an inherently good performer, Jules has no problem pretending to be someone like them. He deliberately performs a sensual dance with a woman in the club, which makes Preston jealous. But it also happens to be a turnon for him. By now, their dynamic has changed, and Jules is completely in command. So much so that Preston wouldn’t even mind getting filmed while they’re doing it. Jules is his safe place now, and Preston has certainly never felt something like this before. The problem, however, is Preston is still an abuser. Jules might feel bad for him, but if the audience does, then that’s not at all a good thing—and even insensitive to the black LGBTQ community. I haven’t mentioned Jules being black before because it didn’t matter, but who knows what would have happened if Jules was white?

The fact that Jules chooses not to upload the video does say a lot. Is it at all possible that his feelings towards his abuser are more than sympathetic? Another misstep by Jules would be not including his friends, Toby and Liza, in the plan. Yes, I’m sure they wouldn’t have let Jules go forward with it, especially Toby, who not only seems to be overprotective about him but also has some romantic feelings (at least that’s how it feels). But not telling his friends messes up Jules’ plan of getting back on the stage on his birthday and sharing his experience. He didn’t want Preston there. However, Jules needed to tell the world that he has toyed with his abuser emotionally. Does he really mean everything he said? I’m not entirely sure about that either.

Preston being present in the scene (all thanks to Toby, who only invited the guy as a nice gesture) changes the whole thing though. He finally gets the shock of a lifetime when he sees Jules on the stage talking about it—in the drag queen attire. Jules is even wearing Preston’s yellow hoodie that he was wearing when he assaulted Jules. Post-show, Preston and Jules have a violent confrontation. Jules didn’t see it coming, of course. It reaches that point where Preston is about to choke Jules to death. Until he starts crying and lets Jules go. Guilt has got the better of him, after all. He knows what a terrible thing he has done, and that someone like him completely deserves what Jules has done to him. Jules, on the other hand, gets up and starts walking away with Preston still lying down on the floor, crying and screaming. From the look of Jules’ face, you know he’s done. Does this feel like revenge, though? I’m not sure. Considering what Preston did to Jules, he deserved worse. The movie gives the idea that Jules is going to out him in the open, but that doesn’t happen. There’s every chance that Preston will walk away and won’t pay for his sins. Sure, he wouldn’t do the same thing ever again and might even properly apologize to Jules, but all that is hypothetical only. The term “femme” means a lesbian woman with a very feminine identity. What if Jules was not in his drag queen attire on the fateful night? Would Preston not go ahead with the heinous thing? That also remains hypothetical, but the title of the film is justified enough. 


Rohitavra Majumdar
Rohitavra Majumdar
Rohitavra likes to talk about movies, music, photography, food, and football. He has a government job to get by, but all those other things are what keep him going.


 

 

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