Though a growing number of British films centre on black and non-white people (most recently, the rom-com Rye Lane [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film]), they remain relatively few. Less rare are those that deal with sexuality beyond the heteronormative norm: see the recent Blue Jean [+lire aussi :
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interview : Georgia Oakley
fiche film], Make-Up [+lire aussi :
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bande-annonce
fiche film] and, to a degree, Aftersun [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film]. Pretty Red Dress, the feature debut by British director Dionne Edwards, which hits the UK today 19 June distributed by BFI Distribution, is the rare film to belong to both categories. But does this make it an exception, or a regular British film twice over? 

The film itself seems to struggle answering that question as it approaches its subject matter and characters with a real attention to realism and nuance, only to finally arrive to a rather vague, if progressive, sentiment. Natey Jones plays Travis, a father in his thirties who is released from prison at the beginning of the film. Picked up by his elegant partner Candice (Alexandra Burke), he seems the image of traditional masculinity: a man usually dressed in black, who rarely shows his emotions and displays a general air of toughness instead. It is difficult to know how he feels about anything, and in any case, Candice is too busy preparing for an important audition for the part of Tina Turner in a new stage musical. Much of the film is concerned with this dignified and admirable mother, who works as a cashier in a supermarket while harbouring dreams of the stage; the film itself seems to be in awe of her, to the point where Travis recedes in the background. Burke is a more dynamic performer, playing a character that initially seems more flamboyant, and Jones’ rather homogenous turn does not help maintain the focus on Travis. But as it turns out, this character too is dazzled by Candice’s beauty, though not only in the way one might expect. Already eyeing with visible envy the expensive sequined dress of the title that Candice buys for her audition, Travis one day decides to put it on. He enjoys watching his own reflection while dressed in the gorgeous garment, but also the sensation of wearing it, walking around in it, touching the sequins and beads against his body. 

In those scenes, we see another side of Travis — a feminine side of course, but more broadly speaking, he also comes across as a much more open and expressive person, someone who truly enjoys being in their own body. The film seems to suggest that Travis isn’t perhaps trying to look like a woman, but more specifically, and as he himself says near the film’s end, to look “pretty;” prettiness is usually coded as feminine, but it’s unclear whether that is Travis’ main concern. 

The filmmaker’s decision to leave that question open is salutory in some respects, granting the characters enough space to be complex beings that do not have all the answers because in reality, no one does. It’s a worthy idea, but one at which the film arrives only after a long dialectic process where Travis, Candice and their 14-year-old daughter Kenisha (Temilola Olatunbosun) anxiously bump against their own fears and anxieties several times, until they finally realise that it is easier to simply go with the flow. This, too, is realistic, and had the film pushed through in that direction even more, we would probably have seen the characters’ anxieties resurge eventually — lessons learned often have to be learned over and over. But it makes for a rather trying experience, the film’s very sincere and serious tone rarely letting up before the final resolution. The build up of Candice’s repeated call-backs for the part in the musical, each one more potentially life-changing than the one that came before, forms the structure for a film that is almost all crescendo, until the more ambiguous and open-ended ending. Adam Scarth’s careful cinematography and the film’s inviting colour scheme help get engaged by the (melo)drama of these lives, but the film still feels too repetitive and long to truly capture the attention. After all this strife, the happy ending is welcome, but its ambiguity feels relatively less powerful than what came before.  

Pretty Red Dress was produced by Teng Teng Films. International sales are handled by Protagonist.