“Queens of Drama” Sings a New Tune for 2000s Popstars
“To the person who inspired Mimi…” is the sentiment that opens Alexis Langlois’ feature directorial debut, Queens of Drama. From the moment the film begins, the audience is placed in a glitterific world of pop stars, heartbreak, and obsession, with the backdrop of the sleaze of the early-aughts. In its barest description, Queens of Drama is about the rise and fall of a French pop princess. Beneath its glitzy surface is an examination of that particular era of pop culture and the brutal way the music industry chews up and spits out the shiny new It Girl the second she loses a bit of her sheen.
Mimi Madamour (Louiza Aura) dreams of becoming a pop singer. She signs up for a reality television show that’s the film’s take on American Idol. Young hopefuls sing a capella in front of a panel of judges in the hopes of making it to the next round. While in the audition room, Mimi notices someone decidedly more punk than everyone else. Billie (Gio Ventura) is the lead singer of an underground band called Slit. They’re androgynous, and in 2005, where this story begins, Billie’s whole look is at odds with the world around them. Billie and Mimi tumble into a relationship that’s as toxic as one can expect from two eighteen-year-olds on the cusp of young-adulthood and global fame.
Courtesy of Altered Innocence
In many ways, Queens of Drama owes its heart and soul to the pop girls of the early-2000s. There are clear homages to Britney Spears and Madonna, as well as the punk scene that was happening in tandem with the more mainstream music scene. It’s this push and pull that’s mirrored in the relationship between Billie and Mimi. Where Mimi is all pink and glitter, Billie is dark and grunge, and they’re the personification of the age-old adage that opposites attract. Mimi cares deeply about how she’s perceived by the world and so does Billie, but they pretend they don’t. As Mimi’s career is skyrocketing, they have to figure out how the other person fits into the equation. Queens of Drama begins in 2005, which is still three years prior to Lindsay Lohan dating Samantha Ronson. That relationship wasn’t handled well in 2008, so one can only imagine the media circus Mimi and Billie would have endured.
Queens of Drama is the sort of campy mayhem that’s like catnip to audiences. The two main characters are singers, so the film is chock-full of songs and more than a few are earworms. Mimi’s “Pas Touche!” will stick with you long after the credits roll. The film is a musical romp that spans fifty years as it paints a picture of these star-crossed lovers. There are touches of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, but where the two differ is the central relationship between Billie and Mimi. It’s hard for the audience to believe in this epic love story that transcends time and space when the glimpses we get aren’t particularly romantic or healthy. They fight physically, pushing and shoving, and scream at each other before breaking up and not speaking for ten years. The script is missing the piece that shows the audience why the relationship has the pull for the two characters that it does.
Courtesy of Altered Innocence
The story of Mimi and Billie is told by Steevyshady (Bilal Hassani), an obsessive YouTuber who followed Mimi’s career for years. It’s clear that there are aspects of this era of pop stars the film is acutely tuned into. Steevyshady is a stand-in for Perez Hilton and the intense “stans” of pop stars. There’s even a moment when Steevyshady recreates the infamous “leave Britney alone” YouTube video, swapping Britney for Mimi. That wasn’t the only part of Britney Spears’ life that was borrowed for Queens of Drama. Mimi breaks into a hair salon and shaves her head like Britney did in 2007. At the time, people saw that as a mental breakdown, but it was her means of finding a reprieve. Even though she was quoted at the time as saying she did it because she wanted people to stop touching her, Britney became the butt of every joke. Queens of Drama doesn’t give Mimi that same context, so the scene feels more surface-level rather than the very real sadness that plagues every pop star who has been forgotten in favor of the new It Girl. There’s nothing people enjoy more than tearing down someone they once loved.
Queens of Drama is a bizarre love letter to the early-aughts and all their low-rise jeans, bubblegum pop, and media-obsessed glory. While it tends to fall on the more shallow side of things, Queens of Drama does rewrite history by showing how queer that era truly was.
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