Théodore Pellerin and Sophie Dupuis on queer drama

“Solo,” the third feature film from French-Canadian director Sophie Dupuis, goes beyond the usual questions of queer identity and acceptance that we often see on screen.

Instead, her film (May 24, Music Box Films), featuring 26-year-old muse Théodore Pellerin (“Beau Is Afraid,” “On Becoming a God in Central Florida”), dances headlong into the suffocating effects of toxic love through an art form all about liberation: drag.

The Toronto Film Festival premiere opens with a gorgeous, sinewy rising star of Montreal's drag scene (Pellerin) twirling around the stage to ABBA's “Voulez-Vous” as the screen fades from black to neon purple. As the scene segues into a montage of Simon, now sans drag, dancing under the club lights, the world of “Solo” expands to include his fellow queens, his sister Maude (Alice Moreault) and a new performer who catches his eye, Oliver (Félix Maritaud). And for a brief moment, it seems that everything is destined for the carefree Simon: a passionate romance with the recently arrived Frenchman, the unconditional support of his friends and family and the adoration of the city's drag audience.

But things go sour for Simon at home and at the club, as Oliver displays typical traits of a toxic partner, criticizing his boyfriend's every move and exerting control over him. The change also happens to coincide with the return of Simon's long-absent mother (Anne-Marie Cadieux), a famous opera singer who chose fame over domestic duties and is herself a seasoned gaslighter. As Simon comes under pressure to please his boyfriend and mother, the film draws contrasts between the roles we willingly take on and those we take on when we're desperate to be loved.

“One thing I've realized recently is that I love characters who act,” Pellerin, who starred in both of Dupuis' previous films, “Family First” (2018) and “Underground” (2020), told Indiewire in a joint interview with the director. “We all have a role that we're playing, but I love characters who aren't even really aware that they're acting, and there's an aspect of that in Simon.”

Pellerin, perhaps best known to American audiences for his role in Eliza Hittman’s coming-of-age abortion drama “Never Rarely Sometimes Always,” added: “[Simon] becomes a version of himself that can be loved by his mother and by Oliver. There's a constant reorientation of who he is and what he can be or say to be loved by people who don't love him unconditionally. That's the essence of toxic relationships, as far as I understand it: this very, very conditional love where you're catering to that person's needs and wants – and the needs and wants are constantly changing too, so it's very difficult to grasp.”

Although Dupuis said she wrote the script out of a desire to combine drag and toxic love rather than channel personal experiences, “Solo” captures the hollowing effect of reinventing yourself into a hopefully more comfortable version.

On stage, Simon gradually loses his bubblegum shine, forgoing glittery evening gowns and upbeat pop songs in favour of Oliver's rawer performance style – portrayed in playback numbers that veer between cinematically heightened and documentary-like cinéma vérité. Off stage, he withdraws from the outside world, maintaining his public composure mainly with the help of alcohol and pills. And what's left of Simon freaks out when his mother turns up at the club to see him perform, leading to an onstage breakdown and ultimately making him question whether there is still love he could try to win back.

“This scene in particular was very difficult to shoot. It was actually the only scene that we disagreed on, Sophie and I,” said Pellerin about the moment when Simon confronts his mother towards the end of the film. “In the edit [Sophie] shot one of the best scenes in the film, in my opinion. But it was the only day where we went over time – where we stopped and went into another room and talked. Everyone was just waiting and we were like, “No, that's not it,” and “That can't be it.”

“It's funny how you feel lost sometimes; you try things and you don't feel good,” he added. “And after that scene, I felt terrible for about a week and a half. I thought to myself, 'I'm the worst damn actor in the world, and I hate myself, and everyone hates me, and Sophie hates me.'”

Their disagreement over how to approach the scene isn't the first time Pellerin and Dupuis shared an intense moment on set.

As part of her unique approach to directing – and what Pellerin calls her “incredible strength” – Dupuis works closely with her actors, spending weeks in rehearsal and lots of time on set working on their scripts and getting feedback. The two have spent years developing complex characters, like the actress’s unpredictable young gangster in “Family First” and her brain-injured scene-stealing best friend in “Underground.” And their established closeness leads to inevitable disagreements, which the director, however, sees as a healthy part of the creative process.

“The way we work together is very special. I want to listen to my actors. I want to know what they think about the story and their characters. I give them that freedom and I want them to express themselves,” said Dupuis, who, according to Pellerin, was actively working on her latest script during rehearsals with a broken leg and “a constant smile on her face.”

“Sometimes we get to a point, like that day, where we don't agree anymore. Théodore felt very bad about it, but for me it was a good thing. I wanted us to get through it and reach that point of our creativity,” she said. “So, yes, it was hard, but I think it was normal and even good.”

Though the two don't reveal how exactly their visions for the scene differed, aside from “an energy thing,” Dupuis described how Pellerin has shaped her films, particularly by insisting that his characters be darker and more flawed than they initially appear on paper. In the case of “Solo,” which Dupuis began writing when she was admittedly still naive about some of the darker sides of the queer experience, it takes a little longer for the character's messier aspects to come to light. But as Simon's great enthusiasm gives way to uncertainty, emptiness and, eventually, grief, a more fully fleshed-out version emerges from behind the curtain — thanks, Dupuis said, to her star's advice.

“That's what I love about Théodore: he doesn't want his characters to be too perfect and too good,” Dupuis said of Pellerin, who brings humanity to his roles.

“I remember the first reading [Théodore] did, [he] said I must exit,” which translates to “get it dirty,” she said. “And every time he tells me that — because it wasn't the first time — he gives me lessons about what it means to be a good writer or even a good director.”

“Solo” opens in select theaters on Friday, May 24th from Music Box Films.