SOLO Trailer: Drag Performers Compete for the Spotlight in TIFF-Winning Toxic Romance
Spring just might be the season for electrifying anti-love stories with Love Lies Bleeding and Challengers. Joining the frey might be writer-director Sophie Dupuis’ queer-drag romance Solo – a rare portrait of dealing with toxic relationships while finding oneself. Set in Montreal’s drag scene, it follows performer Simon (Théodore Pellerin, Never Rarely Sometimes Always) who develops a destructive crush on a new recruit (Félix Maritaud, BPM) that threatens both their careers while he also deals with a resurged family crisis. It won Best Canadian Film at TIFF 2023 and has been nominated for 4 Canadian Screen Awards (Canada’s Academy Awards) including Best Picture, Best Director for Dupuis, and Best Lead Performer for Pellerin. Music Box Films has released the U.S. trailer ahead of its May release.
Here’s the official synopsis:
Simon (Théodore Pellerin) is a rising star in Montreal’s drag scene performing lively disco pop numbers weekly at his local club. Friendly with his fellow drag queens and supported by his sister, who delights in designing increasingly elaborate and beautiful costumes for his act, Simon vibrates with the passion of his adopted artistic community. When he meets Oliver (Félix Maritaud), the alluring new recruit at the club, their irresistible chemistry sparks an electric romance and a fulfilling creative collaboration. Their dynamic is mesmerizing and tender until Oliver’s dominant instincts and destructive behavior jeopardize Simon’s space in the spotlight. Simon has plenty of experience with tempestuous personalities – his mother, a bona fide opera diva, is back in his life after years on the road – but can he get out from under the shadow of their influence?
Solo opens at NYC’s IFC Center on May 24 and LA’s Laemmle Glendale & Chicago’s Music Box Theatre on May 31 before expanding nationwide.
Check out the trailer below.