04/09/2022 - VENICE 2022: With his drag rom-com, the French director truly brings the party to the Lido

In Three Nights a Week [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Florent Gouëlou
film profile], boy meets girl, but then the same boy meets a drag queen. Embracing the sweetness of romantic comedies, the glitter of drag and some darkness as well, Florent Gouëlou delivers one of the Venice Film Festival’s biggest crowd-pleasers with this (out of competition) International Film Critics’ Week entry.

Cineuropa: It’s surprising to see this film in the International Film Critics’ Week – it’s such an unabashed crowd-pleaser. Did you intend to make something that could have a life outside of the festival circuit?
Florent Gouëlou: I wasn’t thinking about how to “sell” it, but I wanted to make a feel-good movie: a proper rom-com. I wanted it to be accessible, to give people a moment of joy and happiness. That was my sincere desire.

There is plenty of joy here. But you combine it with moments depicting their struggle.
I worked with a writer, Raphaëlle Valbrune-Desplechin, and she encouraged me to “root” this movie in reality, and not just tell a story happening in some bubble where everything is easy and everyone is accepting of the art of drag and homosexuality. That’s why there are confrontations in the movie. There is a fight with truck drivers, and a queen gets attacked in the street. I wanted to show that it’s not that easy for them to be free.

This love story is interesting because at the beginning, they don’t know what’s happening. There is a fascination that doesn’t make sense, but it cannot be denied.
I wanted to show the modern way to love. To me, it has to do with accepting your desire, even if you are surprised by it. Baptiste falls for Cookie Kunty, but he already knows that Cookie is fiction. She is a cartoon character, but there is a real human behind her. When he meets him, he falls for him, too. Another modern aspect of this story had to do with Samia, his girlfriend, who is very wise and is able to ask him: “What do you really want?”

It’s the most mature confrontation I’ve seen in a while. They don’t react like stereotypes; they react like people who shared something important before.
When Samia sings a song to Baptiste, it’s her way of acknowledging their long love affair. I wanted to pay tribute to the people I have loved in my private life. I also feel a sense of responsibility when I write my characters, especially women. There are not that many of them in the movie, and I was aware of that. I had to take good care of them.

With someone like Cookie, there is this dilemma: who am I really attracted to? The guy without make-up or the star on the stage?
I could feel it when I met drag queens. You stay true to yourself, of course, but the voice and the way you move just change. When you are in the audience and you know someone in and out of drag, it’s difficult to align those two people sometimes. I have now become a drag queen myself, and I know the difficulties of having to co-habit with your alter ego.

What’s your drag name?
Javel Habibi.

You’re in the movie! Looking stunning, by the way.
I had to have a cameo. I gave myself a scene that couldn’t be cut [laughs]. I have been doing it for a few years now, and I just thought it would be easier to address this question when talking about love. Because it’s a love triangle: there are three people in this relationship. Baptiste and Quentin meet thanks to Cookie, but she is also the obstacle.

Their performances are a big part of the film. Some of them are quite humorous – like the one featuring a giant baguette.
They had to be funny; the movie had to be funny. Sometimes, when you want to move people, you have to make them laugh first. That way, later on, you can go deeper. Every single one of these performances had to be there for a reason. The first time Cookie performs, it’s to show that she is a great artist – Baptiste falls for that, too. When they go dancing, it’s an experience that frees him. Also, I really wanted to pay tribute to the many faces of drag. You have stand-up comedy, lip-sync, local bar scenes. I wanted to give you the full experience of our artistry.

When they meet, you have this delightful scene of seduction that feels straight out of an old movie. What were you going for?
Sometimes, Cookie is the Hitchcock blonde. She can be so old-school Hollywood, but what I love about filming drag queens is that you can easily switch genres. It can be social realism, and then, all of a sudden, it’s a noir. I wanted to play with the rom-com codes, where you always have this meet-cute. Notting Hill was an inspiration. I just like the combination of this gritty HIV testing site and then this queen, bringing all this glamour. He didn’t expect to meet her there. She is like that unicorn in Harry Potter, coming from the Forbidden Forest.