Erupcja

Charli XCX’s post-Brat pivot to cinema has so far seen her ease her way in, taking small roles in 100 Nights Of Hero, Faces Of Death, and I Want Your Sex, as well as playing herself in tour mock-doc The Moment. But Erupcja is a bolder leap: an intimate indie character-drama that hinges on her not playing Charli XCX, or a version thereof. It’s a film that proves she may well have a future in movies, the sort of cool underground Euro-picture that she herself would log on her eclectic Letterboxd page.

While XCX’s pop persona has never been the most outsized, she strips it all back to play Bethany — a ‘normal’ woman in her thirties on the brink of settling down. Her nice-but-dull boyfriend Rob (Will Madden, perfectly pitiable) has whisked her away to Warsaw (her suggestion, he wanted Paris) where he plans to propose. But Bethany has ulterior motives for picking Poland: she used to live there, and has a powerful unspoken bond with local flower-shop-owner Nel (Lena Góra). Whenever Beth and Nel are together, a volcano erupts — quite literally. When Mount Etna belches ash, cancelling flights across Europe and unexpectedly extending Beth and Rob’s trip, she can’t help but be drawn back into Nel’s orbit.

The film’s greatest asset, its compelling core? It’s Charli, baby.

Director Pete Ohs keeps things low-key but engaging as the tectonic plates shift in Beth and Rob’s relationship; it’s painful watching him flail, trying to bridge the distance and conjure romance as she pulls further away. For all his niceties, they’re clearly not aligned. “With him, the Earth doesn’t shake,” Beth admits. The exact nature of her connection with Nel — whether romantic, sexual or spiritual — isn’t spelled out, but their chemistry is undeniable, both potent and volatile, causing ruptions in Nel’s other entanglements too. Through Rob and Nel, Erupcja prods at possible paths in Beth’s future: is the stability he represents boring? Is her connection with Nel — for all its excitement and unpredictability — ultimately selfish? Rather than try and offer answers or moralistic judgment, Ohs simply lets his characters exist in the mess of it all.

The overall vibe is one of a hangout, with shades of Richard Linklater’s Before films; you sense it was filmed that way too, since Ohs shares a writing credit with all the key cast members, including XCX, Madden, Góra and playwright Jeremy O. Harris (who plays a small role as an expat artist). That looseness is inviting, all contained in a 71-minute runtime that doesn’t outstay its welcome. There’s style here — a boxy aspect ratio, colourful interstitials, volcano cutaways — and a drolly funny voiceover that lends wry humour to the drama. But the film’s greatest asset, its compelling core? It’s Charli, baby.