The Perfection Is Gay

(Welcome to Movies Are Gay, a Pride Month series where we explore the intentional [or accidental] ways LGBTQIA+ themes, characters, and creatives have shaped cinema.)

This article contains references to sexual assault and systemic abuse. Reader discretion is advised. 

Sometimes people get up in arms when a film doesn't give wholesome representation to a marginalized group, but it can be a real blast to watch people who have been beaten down by the system get some sweet revenge. The 2018 horror film "The Perfection" is pure exploitation, with more sex, violence, and scandal than you could shake a stick at, with queer feminine antiheroes at its center. "The Perfection," directed by Richard Shepard and written by Shepard, Nicole Snyder, and Eric C. Charmelo, stars Allison Williams as Charlotte, a talented cellist who is forced to leave her prestigious music school, the Bachoff Academy, to care for her dying mother. Opposite her is Lizzie (Logan Browning), a rising cellist who is being courted by the Bachoff Academy and its head, Anton (Steven Weber). 

"The Perfection" initially pits Lizzie and Charlotte against one another, with Charlotte drugging and manipulating Lizzie the day after they have sex and spend the night together, but then things get much, much more complicated. "The Perfection" isn't a sweet love story, or a queer tragedy, but a rape-revenge horror-thriller that doesn't bury its gays and gives them some much-deserved vengeance. The ride to get there is rough, but the ending of "The Perfection" is revenge story perfection, and is kind of romantic, in a truly twisted sort of way. 

"The Perfection" is ultimately a toxic love story between Charlotte and Lizzie, and it can be hard to tell whether it's subversive, exploitative, or both. (It's both, like all good exploitation cinema!) In an interview with /Film, Shepard explained that his entire goal with "The Perfection" was to push the boundaries as far as possible, so he had the cast and crew watch Park Chan-Wook's "Oldboy" and "The Handmaiden":

"I showed [the writers] those movies too because I feel like if we can maintain that balance, we can be something that is actually really beautiful, but at the same time, completely wacked out and insane. And that's kind of what we were trying to do. We were like 'holy s***, let's see how far we can push it. Let's do it.'"

Indeed, "The Perfection" "pushes it" in every possible way, taking every instance to extremes. Charlotte helps a drugged-out Lizzie cut off her hand, then Charlotte's hand is injured in the final fight with their abuser, and they end up playing the cello together, each taking the place of the other's missing hand. It's ridiculous but kind of brilliant, giving their love a unique visual element. Not all queer love stories are sweet and sentimental, and theirs is a different kind of tragic. It's subversive — instead of killing its gays, it makes them killers, but it also exploits the sexual and violent aspects of its story to shock audiences.

"The Perfection" is a great film that reminds us that queer people can have messy, complicated antiheroes with their own deliciously tawdry, trashy tales. Anyone who wants to check out this bit of cinematic perfection can find it streaming on Netflix.