The Drama: what is the anti-rom-com with Zendaya and Robert Pattinson worth?

After Sick of Myself and Dream Scenario, Kristoffer Borgli has fun dynamiting the romantic comedy in a clever and seductive film, even if it ends up running a little empty.

If Ruben Östlund, after the success of Snow Therapy, The Square And Without filterhad opened a film school to train disciples, there is no doubt that Kristoffer Borgli would have graduated with very good honors and congratulations from the jury. Norwegian filmmaker now established in the United States, revealed by Sick of Myself And Dream ScenarioBorgli is now moving upmarket with his new film, The Dramawith very sexy packaging (Zendaya and Robert Pattinson at the head of the bill, A24 logo at the start of the credits, Ari Aster, another expert in scratchy cinema, on production), and which intends to confirm its expertise in the manufacture of small satirical machines nourished by philosophy, sociology and potentially flammable social subjects, aiming at a form of discomfort for the spectator, while proving highly entertaining – an eminently östlundian mixture, so.

Having said this, it is difficult to say much more about The Drama. If you’ve seen the trailer, you know why it would be criminal to spoil. And if you’ve seen the trailer, you’re normally dying to see this movie. Let’s summarize for the latecomers: a few days before their wedding, the very cute and very in love Emma and Charlie (Zendaya and Pattinson) drink a few glasses of orange wine with their soon-to-be witnesses (Alana Haim and Mamoudou Athie). We are in a world of good people in all respects – the color of the wine testifies to this – a barely exaggerated caricature of nice, very clean New York hipsters – the type, precisely, to go see the latest A24 film directed by Kristoffer Borgli.

With the help of alcohol, the conversation drifts towards the question “what is the worst thing you have done in your life?“. And when Emma/Zendaya confesses, those she’s talking to freeze, their jaws drop, and their masks with them. Charlie/Pattinson swallows, wondering if he really knows the person with whom he’s about to unite for better or for worse. But the worst, to his ears, is precisely what Emma has just said. This is the starting point of the film, and its supreme marketing argument: buy a movie ticket if you too want to know Zendaya’s dirty little secret.

To not spoil too much of the surprise, let’s just say that the drama at the heart of The Drama allows Borgli to pursue a question that was already lurking in Dream Scenario (film in which an ordinary teacher played by Nicolas Cage began to appear in everyone’s nightmares), and which could be summarized as follows: “can you be condemned for your thoughts?”. So much for the philosophical subject, which is articulated here not in a form flirting with the fantastic (the option Dream Scenario) but in a deconstruction of the rom-com, or even the comedy of remarriage, an antediluvian Hollywood genre that Borgli plunges into the cauldron of some of the most burning contemporary conversations, bringing the theme of cancel culture into pillow talk – because the question that agitates Pattinson’s character here, deep down, is nothing less than the “cancellation” of his own love story.

The pitch is attractive, the talent of the performers frankly breathtaking (Pattinson is quite brilliant in the comedy of unease, particularly in this scene where he proves incapable of smiling in photos supposed to express marital bliss), but the small problem of The Drama is that he unfortunately has a little difficulty keeping the distance, as if he relies too much on the effect of stupor caused by his terrible secret.

The film is organized according to a crescendo supposed to take us ever further into embarrassment and chaos, but the comic mechanics here are not extraordinarily well-oiled, with Borgli beginning in the last act to use the somewhat worn strings of a wedding comedy (no D-marriage, there, just a wedding, like The meaning of the party), with embarrassing DJ, speeches cringe and widespread temper tantrums. So many moments where we say to ourselves that, on such a subject, Larry David would have sent an excellent episode of Curb your enthusiasm in thirty minutes watch in hand. The Drama will nevertheless land brilliantly on its feet, in a final scene in the form of icing on the (wedding) cake, where Borgli opens up in extremis new horizons, beyond his talent as a wry satirist. Will Master Östlund like it?

The Dramaby Kristoffer Borgli, with Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Alana Haim… In theaters April 1, 2026.