Set in London, *Femme* follows Jules, a successful drag performer whose life is shattered by a brutal homophobic hate crime. Leaving his
dressing room one night to buy cigarettes, Jules and his drag persona, Aphrodite, are ambushed by a vicious gang of young thugs. The brutal assault leaves Jules physically battered, deeply traumatized, and too terrified to perform or even leave his apartment for months. His vibrant confidence is entirely stripped away, replaced by paranoia and a profound sense of humiliation and isolation.Months later, while wandering through a rough neighborhood seeking a semblance of normalcy, Jules spots Preston, the closeted and aggressive ringleader of the gang that attacked him. Driven by a volatile mix of trauma, a desire for retribution, and a strange, morbid curiosity, Jules decides to tail the young man. He follows Preston to a local gay sauna, realizing with shock that Preston is secretly harboring repressed homosexual desires while aggressively projecting hyper-masculinity and bigotry to fit in with his brutish friends.Instead of calling the police, Jules formulates a dangerous, unconventional plan for vengeance. He adopts a new look, toning down his drag aesthetic to appear as a conventionally attractive gay man, and deliberately crosses paths with Preston, who fails to recognize him out of drag. They strike up a tense, emotionally charged connection. Preston is drawn to Jules’s worldly confidence and affection, while Jules intentionally seduces him, gaining access to Preston’s life, friends, and innermost vulnerabilities.As their secretive relationship deepens, the dynamic shifts into a complex psychological chess match. Jules plays a dual role: the vengeful victim seeking to destroy Preston by exposing his secret to his homophobic peers, and an unwitting participant drawn into a genuine, albeit deeply toxic, intimacy with his abuser. Jules forces Preston to confront his self-loathing, pushing him to the psychological brink.The boiling point arrives when Jules orchestrates a scenario where Preston's brutal friends nearly discover his secret life, forcing Preston to choose between his violent worldview and his hidden truth. The climax reveals the devastating emotional fallout of their entanglement. Preston, shattered by the exposure and his own internal contradictions, experiences a violent breakdown. Jules realizes that destroying Preston has also forced him to relive his trauma, leaving neither man victorious. Ultimately, Jules walks away, bearing permanent
emotional scars, but having reclaimed a measure of agency over his life and identity, leaving Preston utterly isolated in the wreckage of his own repressed making.