Watchlist

What to watch: Solo

Love and loss on the drag scene of Montreal.

Gaydar

19 Sep 2025 — 4 min read

Written and directed by Sophie Dupuis, Solo gives us the story of Simon (Théodore Pellerin).

Simon's creative outlet is his performances at a local drag bar. When Olivier (Félix Maritaud) joins the cast, they embark on a tempetuous romance. At the same time, Simon's mother - a famous opera singer - returns to Montreal for a major performance. Simon idolises his mother and seeks to re-establish their connection. But Simon is soon confronted by the harsh truth that our ideals of love and relationships rarely match up to the reality of the flawed humanity of the people we care for.

I caught up with Sophie Dupuis for a behind-the-scenes look at the film.

This is a film that immerses us in the world of drag - what’s been your connection to drag queens and drag performances?

My only connection to them is my admiration and fascination for that art form and the artists that are performing drag. They are incredible, very complete artists who know how to do everything.

I really think that we need them in our society these days. They really help us to deconstruct the binary of gender, of sexuality, and they're doing it through fun, joy, pleasure.

I don't know how we can be against that or hating that because they are really including everyone to have fun and see the world in different way.

I know that some people who saw Solo were like, I didn't know about drag queens and now I kind of want to go to a show because it seems fun .

Although your two main characters are drag queens, this is primarily a story about navigating toxic relationships? The character of Simon is dealing with two toxic people in his life - a narcissistic boyfriend and an emotionally unavailable mother. Why was it necessary to inflict two toxic relationships on Simon in order to tell his story?

I like to put my characters under a lot of pressure and bring them to a kind of breakdown.

I think that Simon needs those two relationships to understand that he has to work to be better treated. If he had only one of them at a time, maybe he wouldn't have felt the pressure to understand that he can choose something else - he had to choose himself and to accept only to be well treated and to treat himself in a good way.

In terms of casting, Solo sees you working again with Théodore Pellerin - did you write the role of Simon with Theodore in mind for the part?

Yes - it's the first time that I've written thinking about somebody. I've worked with Théodore two times and I know how great he is and that he can do anything. And I knew that he wanted that kind of challenge. And so it was the first time that I saw a face and I knew a lot about what he can give to the character while I was writing. So that was new for me.

It's great to work with Théodore. Sometimes people ask me with which actors I would like to work with, and I'm like I just want to work again with Théodore.

Félix Maritaud seemed like an unexpected choice for the role of Olivier - what drew you to the work of Félix?

I saw him in Sauvage.

When I released the film Family First, my first feature, Sauvage was always in the same festivals. We never met, but I saw him everywhere.

We talked about it with Théodore and the name of Félix came. I really liked his activism on social media - he's very present and you know what he's thinking. I wanted that perspective on my script. I wanted someone who would challenge me, who would say no to me, who would say that's not right.

It was very special to mix these two energies because Théodore and Félix are quite the opposite in energy in their life and in the way that they work.

If it was Théodore versus Félix in a lip-sync-for-your-life, who would Shantay and who would Sashay away?

Oh my God - I can't say!

It depends on the song. I think if it's a very emotional song and a strong singer with a big voice, maybe that will suit Théodore. If it's something more energetic where you can have moments of surprise, that would suit Félix.

But they perform best as a duo.

What do you hope that people feel when they’re watching Solo?

I hope it will be kind of healing.

It's a love story between two humans. I think it's good for the heart to see these two men that are trying to love themselves through the suffering.

The queerness of the characters is never the problem of the story. Their queerness is celebrated all the time. There is no homophobia or transphobia in the film. It's just two humans that are trying to navigate this difficult love story and celebrating themselves and who they are on the stage.

Solo is distributed in the UK by Peccadillo Pictures - cinema release 19 September