---
title: "Femme"
year: 2023
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/femme"
fi1m_id: "femme"
imdb_id: "tt20114686"
tmdb_id: 976581
wikidata_id: "Q116250318"
fi1m_score: 75
critics_score: 77
critics_reviews: 18
published: "2026-09-10"
updated: "2026-09-18T08:38:04.275856+00:00"
region: "US"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Femme (2023)

Directed by Sam H. Freeman, Ng Choon Ping · 1h 39m · MPA NR · Drama, Thriller, Romance

## Identity

Femme

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/femme
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** femme
- **IMDb ID:** tt20114686
- **TMDB ID:** 976581
- **Wikidata ID:** Q116250318
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt20114686/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/976581, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q116250318

**Fi1m score: 75** · Critics 77 from 18 reviews

*In a sentence:* A revenge thriller in which the revenge keeps getting put off by the sex

> Two fine performances from Nathan Stewart-Jarrett and George MacKay, an opening act that had us rigid in our seats, and a plot that asks Jules to make choices we did not believe. Worth your evening, if you can take the first twenty minutes.

## Synopsis

Jules (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) performs in drag at a London club, under lights and glitter, and is at ease there. One night, still in wig and dress, he walks to a corner shop for cigarettes and is set upon by a group of men. The one who leads the attack is Preston (George MacKay). Months later Jules has stopped performing and barely leaves the flat he shares with Toby (John McCrea). Then, in a gay sauna, he sees Preston, who does not recognise him out of drag. Jules goes home with him. What he intends to do about it, and how long he can keep his face still while doing it, is the film. Written and directed by Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping.

## Review

Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping have taken a hate crime and built an erotic thriller on top of it, which is either a brave idea or a tasteless one depending on how it is done. Here it is done with care, and for about an hour *Femme* is as tense as anything we have sat through in a while. The tagline is “Seduction is revenge”, and the film means it. Jules (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) is beaten in the street by Preston (George MacKay) and his mates for wearing a dress; months later he finds Preston in a sauna, unrecognised, and decides to get close. The performances are the reason to see it. The plot is the reason we stopped at a recommendation and did not go further.

The opening is the best sustained stretch. Jules is on stage under pink light and glitter, and Buki Ebiesuwa’s costumes make clear this is a serious performer, not a costume-party idea of drag. Then he walks to a corner shop, still in the wig, and James Rhodes shoots the pavement outside in the flat white of the shop’s strip light, with nowhere to hide. We were horrified, and what horrified us was not the blows but the wait before them: MacKay’s Preston circling, needling, playing to his friends for a full minute before anyone lays a hand on Jules. Rhodes holds it at a distance, as if we were across the road and had decided not to cross.

Then the film moves indoors, and mostly stays there. Christopher Melgram’s sauna is tiled corridors and red gloom, and the house Preston shares with the friends who drift through it (Aaron Heffernan and John Leader among them) is a mess of consoles, cans and closed curtains. Adam Janota Bzowski’s score is a low electronic pulse that comes up under the sex and the silences and rarely lets us settle. Selina Macarthur cuts the sex scenes on faces rather than bodies, so what we watch is Jules deciding, each time, whether to go on. That is the right choice, and it is what makes the middle of the film hard to look away from.

MacKay does something we did not expect. His Preston has a shaved head, a neck full of tattoos and a voice pushed down into a growl, and every one of those things is visibly a decision the character has made. When he is alone with Jules the voice lifts, the shoulders drop, and a frightened person shows through. Stewart-Jarrett has the harder job. Jules has to want revenge, want Preston, and hide both at once, and the actor does it mostly with stillness and a stare that goes on a beat too long. There is a scene of the two of them side by side on a sofa with a video game, saying almost nothing, that moved us more than any of the film’s shouting did.

The trouble is the plan. Jules has one, and we will not say what it is, but the film needs him to go back to a violent man again and again, and the reasons it offers grow thinner each time. Freeman and Ng are more interested in Preston’s inside than Jules’s, which is an odd emphasis for a film about the man he attacked, and John McCrea’s Toby, the flatmate who watches all this with increasing alarm, is given worry and little else to play. The second half takes turns we will not describe. Some of them require Preston’s friends to behave conveniently, and the last stretch trades the slow dread of the first hour for plotting we could see coming.

It does one thing the revenge thriller rarely manages: it keeps changing its mind about who it is for. Most films of this type know from the first reel who deserves what. This one gets muddier as it goes, and the muddiness is its best idea, even when the story around it is creaking. It runs 99 minutes and does not feel padded.

The 18 certificate is earned by the sex, which is frank, and by the violence, which is brief and worse for it. Watch it with someone you can argue with afterwards, because you will want to.

*Fi1m score 75, published 10 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

Most critics take to Femme, and they agree on why: the performances. Nathan Stewart-Jarrett and George MacKay are praised in nearly every review, usually for the shifting balance of power between them, and the film is widely described as a tense, sexually charged neo-noir that turns a revenge plot into a study of how men perform masculinity. The reviews cluster tightly around four stars, so the spread is narrow.

The reservations gather at the ending. Several critics find the final stretch forced or unclear, and The Skinny and Deadline both say the conclusion undercuts what comes before. The New York Times questions the decision to humanise the attacker at such length. The sharpest dissent comes from the festival run: The Hollywood Reporter calls the pace sluggish and the tone an old kind of queer misery, while The Playlist finds the whole thing heavy-handed. Even the doubters, though, single out the two leads.

## Straight answers

**Is Femme worth watching?**

*Femme* is worth watching for anyone who can sit through a hard opening twenty minutes, and we scored it 75. Nathan Stewart-Jarrett and George MacKay give two fine performances, and the first hour is as tense as anything we have seen in a while. The plot asks Jules to make choices we did not believe, which is why we stopped at a recommendation.

**How long is Femme, and what is it rated?**

*Femme* runs 1h 39m and is rated NR by the MPA in the US. It is a drama and thriller film.

**Where can I watch Femme in the US?**

*Femme* is streaming on Amazon Prime Video in the US, and it is also available to rent from Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV from $4.99. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service.

**How violent or frightening is Femme, and is it suitable for children?**

*Femme* carries an 18 certificate in the UK and is not suitable for children or younger teenagers. The violence is brief and worse for it, chiefly a street beating early on that the film draws out before the first blow lands, and the sex is frank throughout. The squeamish should know the dread rarely lets up once it moves indoors.

**How does Femme compare to Weekend?**

*Femme* is the harder and more dangerous of the two, a revenge thriller built on a hate crime, where [*Weekend*](https://film.one/film/weekend) is a small, plain love story told mostly in talk. They share a shape, two men in one flat over a short stretch of time, but Haigh's film is the truer and better made. Choose *Femme* for tension, *Weekend* for tenderness.

**What should I watch after Femme?**

After *Femme*, try [*Weekend*](https://film.one/film/weekend) (2011, Fi1m 86): Two men, one flat, two days; the gentle cousin of this film’s middle hour. Then [*Promising Young Woman*](https://film.one/film/promising-young-woman) (2020, Fi1m 72): A revenge plan that keeps being derailed by the person carrying it out; and [*Moonlight*](https://film.one/film/moonlight) (2016, Fi1m 89): A boy and the friend who hurt him, meeting again years later, saying less than they mean.

### Reviews we read (24)

- **Screen Daily** (85/100, inferred): The critic describes Femme as a tremendously effective, subversive and sexually charged revenge movie that reframes neo-noir by harnessing a hate crime. The impressive feature debut and the intense power-play between the leads are singled out. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/femme-berlin-review/5179396.article)
- **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw (85/100, inferred): The film is a well-worked-through psychodrama of sexual danger and revenge with tense developments and reversals that keeps viewers on edge. It features outstanding performances from Nathan Stewart-Jarrett and George MacKay with delicacy, subtlety and depth. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/nov/30/femme-review-george-mackay-nathan-stewart-jarrett)
- **Vulture** (85/100, inferred): The critic highlights the film's potent erotic thriller elements, where desire and domination blur identities and power dynamics. Strong lead performances and ambiguous writing make the revenge story volatile and compelling. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/article/femme-review-an-intensely-erotic-thriller.html)
- **IndieWire**, Ryan Lattanzio (B+): The critic praises the bruising queer revenge thriller for its complex exploration of trauma, vengeance, and unexpected tenderness between attacker and victim. The film ends with an unsettling lack of clarity that leaves a powerful impact. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/movies/femme-review-george-mackay-nathan-stewart-jarrett-1234965870/)
- **Empire**, Sophie Butcher (80/100, inferred): The critic praises the film's tense, exhilarating exploration of sexual manipulation and shifting masculinity through a dual character study. Strong performances by Nathan Stewart-Jarrett and George MacKay make it a vividly compelling ride despite familiar revenge tropes. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/femme/)
- **Evening Standard**, Nick Howells (80/100, inferred): The critic highlights the film's deliciously queer take on revenge, delivered sizzlingly hot as a nerve-tingling erotic thriller. It is deeper and more satisfying than expected, with excellent turns by the leads and a beautiful, liberating climax. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/femme-movie-review-nathan-stewartjarrett-george-mackay-b1123427.html)
- **Little White Lies**, Emily Maskell (3/4/4): The review calls Femme a rewardingly complex character-focused revenge thriller that boldly tackles homophobic violence through its central relationship. The strong performances, especially Stewart-Jarrett's, and the script's interest in self-reclamation are singled out for praise. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/femme)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Manuel Betancourt (80/100, inferred): The film is a deliciously vicious London-set revenge thriller anchored in the centrality of performance in everyday life, particularly gender and queerness. Strong lead performances navigate mercurial motivations in a gorgeously mounted meditation that ends cruelly but leaves viewers bruised yet stronger. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2024-03-30/femme-review-nathan-stewart-jarrett-george-mackay-erotic-thriller)
- **Radio Times**, Matt Glasby (4/5): The review calls the film a frighteningly dark and accomplished erotic thriller with strong direction, cinematography and fantastic lead performances. The building tension and uncertainty about the characters' knowledge of each other are highlighted. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-yo7g3i/femme/)
- **Sight and Sound** (80/100, inferred): The critic describes the film as an unpredictable, genre-shifting erotic thriller about a drag performer seeking revenge after a homophobic attack. Strong lead performances and a playful take on film noir tropes and power dynamics between the two men are highlighted. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/femme-modern-erotic-thriller-with-looks-kill)
- **Time Out**, Stephen A Russell (4/5): The critic finds the film an electric, incendiary London-set noir thriller with a dangerously twisted take on code-switching and toxic masculinity. The strong performances by the leads and the way it humanises both characters amid unfolding tragedy are praised. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/femme-2023)
- **The New York Times**, Beatrice Loayza (65/100, inferred): The white-knuckle erotic thriller scrambles a conventional revenge plot as the victim develops a dubious affection for his foe while exploring gender performance and dominance-submission dynamics. It humanizes the abuser in a questionable focus but reaches a slippery, meaningful realization that vengeance can pale against seeing an enemy as small and pathetic. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/21/movies/femme-review-bad-lovers.html)
- **Slant Magazine**, Diego Semerene: The critic finds the film a nervy exploration of the sartorial as a narrative device and the slipperiness of queer and trans subjectivity. It effectively blurs lines between gay and trans experiences while showing desire's pull toward risk and brutality. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/femme-review-nathan-stewart-jarrett-george-mackay/)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, David Rooney: The critic finds the film admirable in intention but short in execution, with a sluggish pace and ineffectual payoff. The lead performances are strong, but the tone veers into outdated queer miserablism and the storytelling lacks psychological texture. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/femme-review-nathan-stewart-jarrett-george-mackay-1235329836/)
- **The Times**, Kevin Maher (★★★★☆): Sexual politics and genre smarts collide in this gripping London-set drama about a closeted gay thug and the drag artist he attacks, with the leads delivering career-high and deft performances in an audacious debut. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/uk/society/article/femme-film-review-an-audacious-debut-about-masculinity-zf5p5t3mv)
- **Variety**, Guy Lodge (Critic's Pick): The critic highlights the sensational performances by Nathan Stewart-Jarrett and George MacKay as the chief selling point of this tense revenge drama, which offers a nuanced examination of masculine identities and disguises. Some wild plotting moves in the home stretch are noted as forgivable first-feature glitches. [Read](https://variety.com/2023/film/reviews/femme-review-1235529479/)
- **Collider**, Marco Vito Oddo (A-): The critic praises the gripping revenge tale that explores complex issues of gender, sexuality, and toxic masculinity through strong performances, though it's not an easy watch due to heavy themes. [Read](https://collider.com/femme-review/)
- **Eye for Film**, Jennie Kermode (80/100, inferred): The tension is masterfully handled in a revenge thriller narrative that also poses difficult ethical questions. It is distinguished by its complex, ambiguous characters and intelligent handling of genuine feelings amid danger. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/femme-2023-film-review-by-jennie-kermode)
- **HeyUGuys**, Liam Macleod (4/5): Femme is an exceptionally tense, morally grey neo-noir thriller that explores the performative nature of masculinity. It stands out for its neon-infused atmosphere and strong lead performances. [Read](https://www.heyuguys.com/femme-review/)
- **The Skinny**, Carmen Paddock (★★★): The film offers complex character portraits of a gay man seeking answers or revenge through a relationship with a closeted thug, exploring legacies of homophobia. While the conclusion feels forced, its uncompromising script and strong performances mark it as an astonishing feature debut. [Read](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/new-releases/femme)
- **Deadline**, Valerie Complex (55/100, inferred): The critic notes the film's exploration of vengeance and its psychological toll, praising the visuals, direction, and lead performances (especially MacKay's risk-taking and Stewart-Jarrett's charm), but complains that the story relies on old tropes, leaves characters underdeveloped (especially Jules), and ends with confusing questions about the protagonist's actions and self-preservation. [Read](https://deadline.com/2023/02/femme-berlin-review-queer-thriller-will-leave-the-audience-with-more-questions-1235265415/)
- **The Playlist**, Rafa Sales Ross (40/100, inferred): Femme is an erotic noir thriller that feels painfully on-the-nose in its execution. It is notable for its intense performances by George MacKay and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett in a story of revenge and self-loathing. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/femme-review-this-erotic-noir-thriller-with-george-mackay-is-painfully-on-the-nose-berlin-20230223/)
- **Film Stories**, Lauren Miles: Femme is a consistently tense and morally complex thriller that puts LGBTQ+ characters at the heart of a noirish plot. It is elevated by outstanding performances from Nathan Stewart-Jarrett and George MacKay. [Read](https://filmstories.co.uk/reviews/femme-review-a-tense-complex-thriller/)
- **Paste**, Andy Crump (7.8): The review highlights the nuanced revenge thriller focusing on the fallout of homophobic violence and Jules' moral dilemma, with strong performances, noting that the revenge leads to self-destruction. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/george-mackay/femme-review)

## Details

- **Director:** Sam H. Freeman, Ng Choon Ping
- **Director:** Sam H. Freeman, Ng Choon Ping
- **Writer:** Sam H. Freeman, Ng Choon Ping
- **Cinematography:** James Rhodes
- **Editor:** Selina Macarthur
- **Music:** Adam Janota Bzowski
- **Production design:** Christopher Melgram
- **Costume design:** Buki Ebiesuwa
- **Producer:** Sam Ritzenberg, Myles Payne
- **Cast:** Nathan Stewart-Jarrett as Jules; George MacKay as Preston; John McCrea as Toby; Antonia Clarke as Molly; Moe Bar-El as Donovan; Nima Taleghani as Bijan; John Leader as Calvin; Aaron Heffernan as Oz
- **Runtime:** 1h 39m
- **Certificate (MPA):** NR
- **Release (the US):** 5 April 2024
- **Genres:** Drama, Thriller, Romance
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAWWRga6KFU

## Where to watch in the US

- Amazon Prime Video: streaming
- Amazon Prime Video: rent $4.99, hd
- Apple TV: rent $5.99, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: buy $7.99, hd
- Apple TV: buy $7.99, hd

*Checked 2026-09-10.*

Also available in: AT, BE, DE, DK, ES, FI, GB, IE, JP, NL, NO, SE, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *Stranger by the Lake* (2013): Desire and danger at a French cruising spot; the same question of what we will overlook.
- *Bad Education* (2004): Almodóvar’s noir of drag, deception and old wounds, with a colder hand on the knife.
- *Weekend* (2011), Fi1m 86: Two men, one flat, two days; the gentle cousin of this film’s middle hour. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/weekend.md)
- *Promising Young Woman* (2020), Fi1m 72: A revenge plan that keeps being derailed by the person carrying it out. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/promising-young-woman.md)
- *Moonlight* (2016), Fi1m 89: A boy and the friend who hurt him, meeting again years later, saying less than they mean. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/moonlight.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/femme