Unveiling The Emotional Depths of The Drama's Final Moments
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Spoilers ahead for The Drama, and the article discusses school shootings as shown in The Drama.
is exactly that, both on and off-screen, but the real discussion is on what happens during the explosive final moments.
Directed by Kristoffer Borgli, the A24 movie was promoted as a romance where happily engaged couple Emma Harwood (played by Zendaya) and Charlie Thompson (played by Robert Pattinson) are preparing for their wedding. However, as it got closer to the movie's release date, in typical A24 style, became even more apparent.
In an interview with ScreenRant's Brandon Zachary for The Drama, Alana Haim and Mamoudou Athie, who play Emma and Charlie's best friends Mike and Rachel, discuss the shocking conclusion of the movie as well as where their characters will end up after the events of The Drama. When asked how they see the relationship between the husband and wife continuing after the final moments, Haim reiterates that they already have a fragile foundation:
Alana Haim: It might sound crazy, but I genuinely think that Mike and Rachel had bigger fish to fry than this. There were problems way before that dinner scene. In my mind, we were in couples therapy either two to three times a week. It felt like we were in couples therapy most of the week. We were just at each other's throats from the very beginning. The whole time, I was asking myself, "What did Mike see in Rachel in the good old days? What were the good old days like?"
Mamoudou Athie: This is like a classic relationship trope. Whether you reverse the genders or whatever, there's oftentimes a more effusive, outgoing person, and there's the more reserved one. But I think this relationship has taken a turn somewhere, maybe right before their wedding.
Alana Haim: Yeah, I feel like on their honeymoon or something, something went down.
Mamoudou Athie: It just got a little bit more tense. Do you think they divorced?
Alana Haim: I think we have a save-the-relationship baby, and then that doesn't work. I think that was the one thing that we were missing; a baby and a dog. After that, when our kid is like 18, we divorce.
Mamoudou Athie: I don't think Mike is happy, but he's like, "Well, I guess this is my life now."
The whole foundation of The Drama shows the cracks in relationships when our worst selves are laid bare, and if the other person accepts them or simply walks away. The focus was, of course, on Charlie and Emma when Emma confessed to her teenage plot of committing a school shooting due to the incessant bullying she endured. However, Emma doesn't go through with the plans due to another shooting taking place on the same day.
The revelation was declared at a dinner party between husband and wife/best man, and maid of honor, Mike and Rachel, with Charlie and Emma. Rachel's idea to share the worst things each other did, which included Mike using an ex-girlfriend to protect himself against a dog attack, Charlie cyber-bullying someone and forcing them to move, Rachel locking a friend in a closet inside an abandoned RV, and of her teenage plans.
Obviously, , but the reality is that Mike and Rachel's relationship was also showing cracks throughout the movie. Rachel is shocked by Emma's admission and outwardly expresses hostility towards her due to her own personal experiences with school shootings. It doesn't show the full fallout, but with Mike and Rachel's fragile and dysfunctional relationship, it probably won't last much longer.
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The Drama is available to watch in theaters.
Cast
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Emma Harwood -
Charlie Thompson
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