What if you discovered a deep, disturbing secret about your fiancé the week before your wedding? That’s the premise behind Kristoffer Borgli’s dark, psychological drama The Drama, starring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson as Emma and Charlie, the tortured betrotheds.

The movie start off with a comedic lift: we see Emma’s and Charlie’s meet-cute and cheer for them as they fall head-over-heels, but then the drama (and The Drama) really starts. Egged on by their married besties one night after several glasses of wine, they each reveal a dark secret about themselves, and the doubts don’t just start to creep in, they blast in like a nuclear bomb.

Without giving away spoilers, the movie turns ever darker, with scenes morphing into dream/nightmare sequences, forcing the viewer to question what’s real and what’s not, just like the couple on the screen.

Pattinson and Zendaya give stunning, emotional performances, swinging easily between giddiness, unease and fearful sobs. And the chemistry between them is electric, so it’s easy for the audience to believe they’re love-struck. Alana Haim (she of the rock band Haim and Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza) excels in the role of Emma’s infuriated maid of honor, playing the part with controlled bitchiness to perfection.

Performances aside, this movie is not for everyone, It’s disturbing, it’s jarring (aided by the rich cinematography which turns staccato at times, racheting up audience unease), and it’s difficult to find a character with which to identify.

But Norwegian writer/director Borgli’s trademark is dark and disturbing. His 2022 film Sick of Myself – about a woman who intentionally disfigures herself for attention after becoming jealous of her boyfriend’s fame – was just as unsettling as The Drama. The premise of both films is thought provoking, highlighting how mental illness can go undiscovered and buried – for a time.

The movie ends on a surprisingly happy note – or is it? Maybe it’s disconcerting. Maybe it’s delusional. Either way, it’s that unsettling incongruity that makes Borgli’s films so powerful and not always easy to watch.

In theaters now.