Four years ago, the Norwegian screenwriter and director Kristoffer Borgli left half of Cannes with his ass in a twist thanks to the very black ‘Sick of Myself’ (2022). Among those who were fascinated by the film was Ari Aster. The director of ‘Beau is afraid’ sponsored him as a producer when he landed at A24. His Hollywood debut lived up to the expectations generated: ‘Dream Scenario’ (2023) was an enormously unique and suggestive satire on virality, cancel culture and contemporary narcissism.
However, the shadow of Charlie Kaufman constantly loomed over that film. Its mix of Kafkaesque surrealism and existential anguish inevitably referred to the author of ‘I’m Thinking of Leaving’ (2020), to the point that it could be perceived more as a brilliant variation of that imagery than as the result of a fully personal look.
With ‘The Drama’, also produced by A24 (and again with Ari Aster as shadow godfather), Borgli seems to have reached another level. On the one hand, he has managed to attract two big Hollywood stars like Zendaya and Robert Pattinson (both excellent), an unequivocal sign that he is no longer just a promise from the indie circuit, but an author with the capacity to carry out high-profile projects within the American industry.
On the other hand, the film confirms a much more recognizable and personal personality. The social satire, emotional cruelty and uncomfortable humor that defined his previous works are still present, with echoes of Ruben Östlund or Yorgos Lanthimos, but now they appear articulated through a voice less dependent on external references (no matter how many winks to Louis Malle or Bergman) and much more self-confident.
‘The Drama’ works very well as a romantic anti-comedy. Through the question “Do we really know our partner?”, Borgli progressively twists the classic codes of the genre, in its aspect of romance with drunkenness that leads to a wedding apocalypse, until transforming them into a disturbing and very dark dramatic comedy about obsession, emotional paranoia and the impossibility of completely accessing the intimacy of the other.
The staging constantly reinforces this psychological drift. Through a montage that is especially playful with temporality, Borgli combines with enormous skill and in a very fun way the real with the imagined, what Pattinson’s character projects on his fiancée. Words, memories or small everyday gestures thus acquire an almost paranoid dimension, as if any detail could hide a future threat.
From that clash between romanticism and paranoia, between love and its limits, the humor of the film is born. Borgli thus confirms his talent for extracting discomfort and comedy from the emotional miseries of contemporary life, consolidating himself as the current great king of cringe satire.
