First a Girl

Set in the early 1930s London scene, the film captures the era’s fashion-forward fame culture and live-performance circuits. It foregrounds street-level gigs, cabarets, and the glamour of stage life against a fragile pre-war backdrop. The time period shapes how characters chase opportunity, deal with censorship, and navigate social norms around gender and performance.

The action is rooted in 1930s London, a buzzing hub of fashion, coffeehouses, and music halls where a performer can leap from the crowd to the stage. The narrative follows Elizabeth as she navigates bustling theatres, crowded coffeehouses, and a network of promoters and impresarios. The story then shifts to the South of France, where a villa and aristocratic leisure backdrop heighten the stakes of the disguise and romance.

🎭 Identity

Disguise and performance drive the plot as Elizabeth steps into Bill's persona to seize a life-changing opportunity. The film explores how identity is crafted, worn, and questioned on stage and off. Each reveal tests loyalty, ambition, and what it means to be true to oneself when the mask is the only path to success. The tension between inner self and public persona is a constant pull throughout the narrative.

💘 Love vs. Persona

Romantic attractions are complicated by deception, with Elizabeth's feelings and Robert's attraction to Bill entangled in performance. The story probes whether love can survive intimacy built on a masquerade. It also examines how gender presentation shapes desire and social expectation. The romance navigates loyalty, attraction, and the cost of revealing the truth.

🌟 Ambition & Exploitation

Entrenched in show business, the characters pursue fame and opportunity, often at others' expense. The promoter McLintock embodies the commercial drive that profits from a created persona. The film highlights the moral ambiguities of staging someone else's identity for profit, and how ambition can both empower and entangle lives. Ultimately, ambition pushes Elizabeth toward a new life, even as she grapples with the truth.