The Drama by Kristoffer Borgli (2026)

Watched by Matthew Donlan

The biggest thing we know about The Drama is in the title. There is a drama. And the titular ‘drama’, when it is drunkenly confessed early in the film, is a doozy. A24 has tried to keep this film under wraps, with an international embargo lifting only days before its release. Of course, leaks appeared where they always do in the 21^st century, on Reddit. And TMZ (as usual) were eager to kick off the smear campaign. All this has fed into an immense hype campaign, centred around the two leads, Zendaya and Robert Pattinson, as theories swirl and excitement builds. But this information vacuum isn’t going to help the film when it is released.

In a pre-title card sequence, Charlie (Pattinson) drafts his wedding speech with his best man Mike (Mamoudou Athie), recounting the textbook awkward meet-cute, their first date and the idyllic home life between him and fiancé Emma (Zendaya). These first few minutes provide us with several flashbacks, establishing that Emma is deaf in one ear, that Charlie is a classic fumbling Brit, and that the two are perfect together. The chemistry between the two leads is immediately electric and you are instantly swept into the romanticism of their lives.

Things are going perfectly as the big wedding day nears, perhaps too perfectly. The loving couple meet with Mike and his partner Rachel (Alana Haim) for a final food and wine tasting night before locking in the menu. After too many drinks, the conversation turns controversial, with each person challenged to confess the worst thing they have ever done. Emma, the last to speak, divulges something so shocking from her adolescence that it brings a very abrupt end to the night, and poses a threat to the entire wedding.

The Drama, like director Kristoffer Borgli’s previous feature film Dream Scenario, is interested in the shifting perceptions of others and how that, in turn, shifts our own actions. Charlie becomes fixated on Emma’s past. He asks probing questions and feels like he’s been betrayed, struggling to figure out whether her previous actions were a one-off or a red flag for future behaviour. In response, Emma becomes increasingly anxious, worried that Charlie will abandon her despite his promises saying otherwise. She’s adamant that the past is the past, but her resistance to discuss it only raises more questions.

Early on, Borgli plays with the subjectiveness of his two leads in a clever way. Multiple imagined scenarios play out in quick succession from the perspective of Emma and Charlie as they try to figure out what to do next. These hypothetical realities, positive and negative, create an unsteady ground for us as a viewer. At the same time as we are grappling with Emma’s confession, trying to determine within ourselves if we should laugh or shake our head, the film grapples with the same and offers potential pathways for each. While an effective creative decision, Borgli opts not to sustain it for very long and moves us back to the solid ground of reality. It feels like a missed opportunity to wrestle in the messy ambiguity which would have only added stakes to the increasing tension.

The tension is not only confined to their relationship but extends to their friends too. Mike and Rachel, also present at the confession, attempt to keep their distance but their obligations to the wedding keep them involved. It particularly hits Rachel hard given her own personal connection to the circumstances, and in this performance, Alana Haim very nearly steals the show. The seething anger, pushed down by alcohol and a thin attempt at maintaining social decency, is worn across her face in every scene. In this way Borgli never needed to show us the pummelling that Rachel wishes to commit as we can clearly imagine it ourselves in her eyes.

At this point in the review, I’d start to wrap things up. I’d probably say:

While well-paced and balanced between absurdity and seriousness, The Drama does leave some room for wanting a messier and meatier story. It could, perhaps, have more substantially engaged with the current culture surrounding the topic of Emma’s confession, and focussed less on packaging it up neatly for the urban elite. But all in all, it is at times funny, and at others serious, examination of how we redefine our perceptions of loved ones beyond one moment in time.

And perhaps that is where you could stop reading too if you only wanted a review of the film. But there is one element of this whole experience which I haven’t touched on yet.

As you’ve seen, I’ve been careful to avoid spoiling the central confession of the film, as the international embargo and A24 has wished. They have also been careful to avoid it in their marketing, instead leaning into the star power of the two leads, promising a chaotic and hilarious ride into a potential trainwreck wedding. It feels as if A24 had no idea how else to market this film given its very controversial core. And that perhaps, by their desire to withhold reviews until right before the release, they are fearful of the reaction and box office damage it will cause.

I think this is partly fed by the film’s unwillingness to sincerely grapple with the very real comparisons it is making. At one point it poses the question; how many people walking down the street today may have had the same thought but never confess it? But beyond this superficial question, it does not want to actually consider the circumstances and consequences in which this idea is created. Instead, it plays it for laughs, mostly elicited from shock, even adding absurdity to Emma’s pathway out of this darkness. While I wouldn’t go so far as to say it is offensive, it certainly is clumsy with its depiction.

Given A24’s unwillingness to sufficiently feed the media beast ahead of release, it found its own news to discuss. After TMZ’s starter gun piece, and while writing this article, Hollywood Reporter ran an article titled, ‘’The Drama’ director Kristoffer Borgli’s 2012 essay on his age-gap romance resurfaces, sparking controversy’. In the essay, Borgli confesses to a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl while he was in his twenties. Nothing illegal is suggested to have happened (the age of consent in Norway is 16), but Borgli does say that he listened to the advice of Woody Allen (via his film Manhattan) over the word of his own friends.

I’m not suggesting that A24 could have buried this piece if they were more willing to focus on the film, and this article may not be the end of the story either. But it is indicative of an insatiable news ecosystem and the risks associated with leaving a vacuum. Everyone wants to be talking about the latest hot film, I’m guilty of as much by writing this piece, but if they can’t talk about the thing itself, they will find the next best thing.

Just like Charlie did to Emma, A24 has tried to shape The Drama into something it is not. And what has resulted is a rollout almost as dramatic as the wedding itself.

The Drama is in cinemas now.

Pick of the Week
Easter isn't the same without chocolate, and there's no better place to find it than at a chocolate factory. Head to the Ritz on Friday night to enjoy Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. This film is a personal favourite (it features in my LB top 4) and is pure magic.

New Releases - Thursday 02 April

• Dance For Your Life (Luke Cornish) AUS
• The President's Cake (Hasan Hadi)
• Father Mother Sister Brother (Jim Jarmusch)
• The Drama (Kristoffer Borgli)