Femme (2024) Characters, Setting & Themes Explained

Femme takes place primarily in East London, centered around the city's vibrant nightlife scene. The story moves between an East London nightclub where Jules performs as drag queen Aphrodite Banks, public venues like convenience stores and gay saunas, and private spaces including Preston's flat and Jules's apartment. These settings contrast public visibility with private vulnerability, reflecting the film's exploration of LGBTQ+ identity in contemporary urban Britain.

• east london
• nightclub
• setting
• london
• LGBTQ+ spaces
• urban

The film uses a clear contrast between public and private spaces. Nightclubs and bars represent performance, visibility, and community for the LGBTQ+ community, while private flats become sites of control, vulnerability, and danger. This tension between public persona and private self runs throughout the film, especially as Jules navigates his dual identity as both performer and survivor.

• settings
• themes
• public
• private
• performance
• vulnerability

Femme explores three interconnected themes: Identity & Performance, which examines how drag functions as both art and disguise; Consent & Power, looking at the dynamics of coercion and control in relationships; and Trauma & Aftermath, focusing on how violence shapes memory, choices, and recovery. The film is particularly interested in how these themes intersect within LGBTQ+ experience.

• themes
• identity
• performance
• trauma
• consent
• power
• LGBTQ+

Jules is a rising drag star known on stage as Aphrodite Banks, performed by Nathan Stewart-Jarrett. He is a charismatic performer who channels wit and confidence in his drag persona, but beneath the performance lies emotional scars from a violent assault. After the attack, Jules becomes determined to reclaim agency through a risky revenge plot, showing both resilience and moral ambiguity as he navigates trauma.

• jules
• aphrodite banks
• drag queen
• protagonist
• performer

Preston, played by George MacKay, is the volatile young man whose brutal assault of Jules sets the film's events in motion. He is heavily tattooed and oscillates between dominating behavior and moments of panic, revealing a fragile need for control and fear of losing it. His character embodies the film's exploration of internalized homophobia and the dangerous intersection of desire, aggression, and vulnerability.

• preston
• antagonist
• george mackay
• attacker
• control

The film uses drag as both literal subject and metaphorical framework. Jules's stage persona as Aphrodite Banks represents performance that can shield and reveal the self simultaneously. The film examines how identity is performed under pressure, particularly within the LGBTQ+ community, and explores what happens when the masks slip - revealing vulnerabilities that exist beneath both stage personas and everyday identities.

• drag
• identity
• performance
• self
• persona
• Aphrodite Banks

Femme presents trauma as complex and non-linear. The assault leaves lasting psychological scars that push Jules into withdrawal, then into a dangerous entanglement with his attacker. The film explores how trauma distorts memory, shapes choices, and complicates any possibility of forgiveness. Recovery is shown not as a clean arc but through cycles of vulnerability and threat, with the characters wielding power in different dangerous ways.

• trauma
• assault
• recovery
• memory
• aftermath
• psychology

Femme is classified as a thriller, characterized by high intensity and constant underlying threat of violence. The dominant tone is tense, driven by Jules's secret identity and the ever-present risk of Preston's discovery. While it contains dramatic psychological elements, the film prioritizes suspense and psychological manipulation over traditional dramatic storytelling, with a steady linear progression toward its bittersweet confrontation.

• thriller
• genre
• tone
• suspense
• atmosphere
• intensity

The film probes how power imbalances, coercion, and the aftermath of violence shape relationships between characters. Preston's control in intimate encounters and the lines between consent and manipulation drive much of the film's tension. Jules's revenge plan itself becomes a dangerous power play, raising questions about agency, retaliation, and what constitutes acceptable behavior when trust has been destroyed.

• power
• consent
• control
• manipulation
• coercion
• relationships

The LGBTQ+ spaces in Femme - specifically East London nightclubs, gay saunas, and bars - function as both community hubs and environments of vulnerability. These venues represent visibility and belonging for queer people, while also being spaces where violence can occur. The film explores how these settings shape performance, community, and the risks faced by LGBTQ+ individuals in urban Britain.

• LGBTQ+
• london
• queer
• community
• nightclub
• gay scene
• bar