"The Drama" is based on a single major secret But is it enough to make a good film?

There is a big secret revealed in The Drama, but we are not telling you what it is. We do this to preserve the vision of those who will watch it in theatres, to let them discover it as we did (unless they accidentally stumbled upon it on X), and also because there is a signed embargo in which we are kindly asked to respect silence out of courtesy, though it also sounds like a subtle threat. The truth is that the writer fully understands the importance of spoilers. In fact, more precisely, the importance that a spoiler should not be revealed. Or even better: preferring to enter the theatre as unprepared as possible for what is about to be seen, especially when the entire promotion of a title is based on a shocking discovery.

The “No Spoiler” Plot

What happens with The Drama is somewhat strange. Not because there is no revelation in the end, but because this revelation is simply the pretext for the rest of the film written and directed by Kristoffer Borgli, and therefore functions only as a narrative premise, not as a real disruptive element in the development of the film. Obviously, what the film places in front of us is a tangled situation, and it is definitely more enjoyable to discover directly from the protagonists what the hidden side is that they have never revealed even to their partner.

But the way The Drama unfolds, it is much more about how this disturbing element is treated than what it actually is. The viewer will find themselves obsessing over it during and after the film, to the point of feeling that even if one had known from the synopsis what was hidden underneath, it would have changed very little about the interest in going to see Borgli’s new film in theatres.

The Revelation as a Device

Moreover, the project already has its own intrinsic appeal, where the secret is an added bonus. The protagonists are Zendaya and Robert Pattinson, a couple of beautiful but (here) above all talented actors who portray the fears and discomfort of truly knowing what the darkest thoughts that can pass, or have passed, through people’s minds really are. Two stars with taste, careful career choices, who in the film appear fragile and complementary, sweet and frightened, always feeling real despite the absurdity of the situation.

Whether driven by self-confidence or by the crisis that can arise in the week before the wedding (a confidence that, if we want to talk about secrets, recalls the 2024 film by Daniele Luchetti, on which the same concept is essentially based). Two actors in The Drama who are about to get married, a marriage that is thrown into question by a revelation just days before the fateful “I do”.

Thus Kristoffer Borgli, who carried the imaginaries of his Sick of Myself and Dream Scenario, becomes more restrained here, while still finding this revelation device but then working in subtraction compared to his usual biting and explosive style. He works on the writing in terms of structure, but does not deepen the exploration of the central theme, namely the secret that triggers a whole series of reflections.

The film finds its strength in the suggestive power that the author is able to evoke, someone who truly believes in images and often assigns them more power than words themselves. That is why The Drama lives through editing, visual dissonances, insertions and unpredictability in staging that serve to convey concepts that words often fail to verbalize. This becomes its endpoint, while for the rest the director seems to adapt to a much more restrained framework than what he had previously offered.

An Involuntarily Hollywood Film

A film operating within Hollywood logic, believing it is breaking out of them through its explosive confession, but ultimately remaining within much more controlled canons than those Borgli previously explored. This does not mean that The Drama is not entertaining or enjoyable; on the contrary, it becomes even more accessible despite the shocking announcement. Yet it remains, paradoxically, a harmless film, given the violence that becomes one of its thematic threads. A work that alternates irony and tenderness, shock and everyday life with skill. A title we might say “I do” to, but perhaps not for life.