One of my favourite scenes in Sam Mendes’ Revolutionary Road (2008) – starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet – is when April (Winslet) greets Frank (DiCaprio) for breakfast, after a colossal fight the night before, during which things were said that neither can ever take back. As she (much to his surprise) performs her part of a ‘supportive’ wife, while he riffs on his role as the polite, clueless breadwinner of the family, the quiet breakfast – a symbol of suburban bliss – begins to feel suffocating and emotionally claustrophobic. Both Winslet and DiCaprio act the hell out of this scene, playing the wounded, flawed couple trying to deflect from the unpleasantness of their once-loving marriage, hoping things would get back to normal with time. A still from The Drama.I couldn’t help but think about this scene while watching Krisstofer Borgli’s The Drama, where Robert Pattinson and Zendaya play a couple navigating the nerves between their engagement and wedding. The core premise of Borgli’s film is a fascinating one— what happens if you chance upon some devastating new information about your partner-to-be, which fundamentally changes the way you see them. Do you keep up the facade of camerderie or do you confront it? Does talking help? After all, not everyone is good at articulating and communicating their thoughts in the most mature way.As any couple in a long-term relationship will attest to, it’s surprising how much one is willing to forgive (or look away from) to be with a person, before it becomes truly untenable. It was what was at the core of the 2008 film too, where the idealistic young lovers from Titanic (1998), curdle into a perpetually dissatisfied middle-aged couple.Borgli’s film gets off the blocks with much verve, as we see Charlie (Pattinson) and Emma’s (Zendaya) meet-cute, being described by Charlie in his wedding vows to his best man, Mike (Mamoudou Athie). Charlie is the chief curator at the British Museum in Boston, and Emma seemingly works an unspecified office job. Emma is reading a book in a coffee shop, when Charlie approaches her, pretending to have read it. At first, she can’t hear him because she’s deaf in one ear, and blasting music in the other. He’s gone through his entire speech introducing himself, when he startles her. She tells him that she didn’t hear anything he just said and ask whether he’d like to try his approach all over again. It’s a sweet, clumsy way to set up Borgli’s anti rom-com.A still from The Drama.As the couple is in the thick of things to plan their wedding (rehearsing their first dance with a choreographer, visiting the florist, meeting with the wedding photographer) the first crisis hits them on their walk back home. They spot their wedding DJ partaking of something off aluminium foil (presumably hard drugs). They discuss if she is reliable for the job. Are they being uptight and judgemental about it? Or can this really hamper their big day? We’re told Charlie tends to fixate on things, magnifying them in his head over time, while Emma seems more empathetic at first. It seems a bit extreme, but the intent of Borgli’s film might be to call out social-media posturing, and how much more insufferable the discourse has made things. All of a sudden, people seem to have too many strong opinions along with the will to act on it instantly.Things get more interesting during a rehearsal dinner, when Charlie and Emma, accompanied by their Best Man, Mike, and maid of honour Rachel (Alana Haim), play a game. All four of them have to admit to the worst thing they’ve done in their life. As they go around the table, Emma’s story shocks everyone. It might be a spoiler to get into specifics, but the anecdote is about her loneliness when she was in high school. Borgli is so impressed with the shock value of this anecdote that he doesn’t try to address it in a more nuanced manner. A still from The Drama.Rachel flies off the handle, and can’t seem to see Emma without judgement. As Mike and Charlie grapple with what they’ve just heard – Emma’s own demons take over. Now that an ugly truth about her is out in the world, she tries to imagine the worst-possible scenarios of the reveal. Does Charlie even like her anymore, does he want to call off the wedding? What does Mike think? To compound her hate, Rachel stops responding to texts or calls. I kept waiting for the couple to sit down and have the difficult conversation, and for Charlie to make up his mind. Marriages, after all, are about seeing one’s partner at their most flawed and choosing to stick with them. Alas, the conversation never truly takes place satisfyingly, strangely, despite both being fairly articulate. Pattinson is great as the nervy British lad, who gets spooked by a coffee mug (related to Emma’s anecdote). Zendaya, who has shown flair to play morally ambiguous characters earlier in Challengers (2024) and Euphoria (2019-ongoing), is dependable as she wears Emma’s guilt and paranoia. As the circumstances wring them both as they try to pre-empt each other’s discomfort, both Pattinson and Zendaya do well to showcase the inner turmoil of the couple.A still from The Drama.It could be argued that Borgli’s film has too much fun with the premise, turning it into a psychological comedy of sorts. A word for Zoe Winters, who was phenomenal in last year’s Materialists, is just as good here as the photographer, Frances. The rehearsed politeness with which she delivers a pep-talk to the couple, teaching them some basic poses for the day, before giving up. Haim, who appeared in last year’s One Battle After Another is a riot as the judgemental Rachel, too caught up with Emma’s terrible deed, completely overlooking her own (Rachel locked up a boy in a tiny cabin in the woods and didn’t tell anyone. He was found many hours later, possibly psychologically scarred forever). A still from The Drama.There are some interesting conversations thrown up by Borgli’s film, about the spectrum of a bad deed. Should a person be punished only when they’re hurting someone else, or be punished for even having thought about it? Also, what should the quantum of punishment be, and who decides it? Borgli’s film seems to be posing questions on ‘cancel culture’ through the prism of a relationship drama. Have we become too uptight and trigger-happy as a species and forgotten how to live with another person’s flaws? Also, do we risk being callous about enabling flawed human beings to walk amongst us without the slightest bit of reflection on their actions?The Drama doesn’t have answers to any of these questions. More importantly, it doesn’t seem fixated on getting them. It’s too happy to feast on the awkwardness of it all. A deeper thinker than Borgli would have taken this premise to greater heights. Borgli’s film sets the stage for a searing dissection of moral judgement, but ends up feeling more like a provocation than a payoff.*The Drama is playing in theatres.