Set on the Montreal drag scene, Solo follows Simon, a young drag queen as he falls in love for the first time.
Simon is surrounded by love, his sister makes his outfits, his family celebrate his performances, his friends at the club all form a tight-knit group, and his drag mother is a constant support in his life. And then into this steps Olivier.
Full praise should go to Theodore Pellerin who plays Simon, because his performance is really what keeps this film going. He plays this with such young, open, vulnerability. Simon falls in love with Olivier, and you see entirely in his face that he holds nothing back. He loves like someone who’s never been hurt, and is too young to know that it can feel this right and still not be. When he tells his sister he met someone, he is positively glowing.
And when Olivier turns almost immediately into a bastard, you see every hurt written there. First, small sharp edges which leave him with a look of shocked confusion. He looks about 9 years old, or like a baby bird. Then as Olivier begins to alienate Simon from everyone around him and systematically destroy his self-esteem, you just watch this thin rictus grin of “I’m fine” get plastered over what looks like a thousand shattered pieces. He’s always anxious, jittery, barely keeping from crying, permanently uncertain and unsure from which direction the next hurt will come.
While the performances are commendable, Solo does just have that one note though. Like, half an hour in, Olivier is already coming off as a bunch of red flags stuffed into sequins and high heels, and Simon is on the most by-the-numbers slide into an abusive relationship, and I was just like, “That’s it, that’s the movie, what the hell is the next hour of this film?” The answer is more of the same.
There’s not even really a B-plot. There is a tiny bit of conflict where Simon’s estranged mother comes to town, and his desperate need to seek her attention, approval and love is there to emphasise his mommy issues as a reason he’s not just kicking Olivier the fuck out. But honestly, it can’t really be considered a B-plot because it’s so A-plot adjacent. It’s just more “someone not giving a fuck about you and calling it love”.
I suppose it’s good to see a queer film tackling domestic abuse, especially among young gay men, because messaging around domestic violence and the tactics used to grind you down long-term are primarily aimed at women. And gay men, especially flamboyant boys on the drag scene, have been told so often that they are dramatic and extra, have been dismissed and not taken seriously, that it’s hard not to believe that’s what they’ll meet with if they speak out about what’s going on in their relationship. Hell, it’s hard not to internalise and minimise all your own feelings about what you’re experiencing. Especially if you are being gaslit to fuck.
So that’s good, but other than that, Solo is really a short film with an extra hour attached, to spell out something already obvious to the viewer from quite early in.