After the "Brat Summer," the exceptional summer 2024 tour that transformed Charli XCX into an icon, comes the "Cinephile Summer." The pop star is indeed appearing in several independent films as an actress, and...Eruption à I Want Your Sex via 100 Nights of HeroesA new step in his career?
She's the most cinephile of pop stars. Charli XCX publishes her own mini-film reviews on her TikTok account, reviewing works as varied as Robert Bresson's Mouchette (1967) and Michael Morris's Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy (2025). It was therefore only natural that the singer, who constantly seeks to reinvent herself, would turn to cinema. But what kind of cinema? She has often said she doesn't know if she's "an underground artist or a pop star," as she did in 2024 during an interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music. This eclecticism is reflected in her young yet remarkably rich filmography.
It all started innocently enough: cameo voice work in animated films ( Angry Birds : The Movie in 2016 and UglyDolls in 2019), a common step in a pop star's career – before her, Katy Perry voiced Smurfette in The Smurfs in 2011, and Taylor Swift was "Audrey" in the animated film The Lorax in 2012. But it was with her "cinephile coming out," marked by the discovery of her Letterboxd account on December 27, 2024, that Charli XCX, the actress, revealed herself. Since then, she has appeared in seven feature films – some of which have not yet been released in France. First came The Moment , directed by Aidan Zamiri, a mockumentary distributed by the cinephile-favorite studio A24, where the pop star plays herself opposite a concert film director not quite in tune with the "brat" ethos (brilliantly portrayed by Alexander Skarsgård). This film follows on from the documentary Charli XCX: Alone Together, where the singer chronicled, in a DIY style, the making of her album How I'm Feeling Now (2020) during lockdown .
We then saw Charli XCX make appearances in independent films of various styles: a feminist figure from an ancient legend in Julia Jackman's fantasy tale 100 Nights of Hero ; a not-so-nice colleague of heroine Barbie Ferreira in Daniel Goldhaber's horror film Faces of Death ; the girlfriend of a narcissistic influencer in Cathy Yan's The Gallerist ; and an eccentric figure in a millenarian sect in Romain Gavras' Sacrifice .
Two roles, however, stand out: that of an intellectual questioning power dynamics in Gregg Araki's new film, *I Want Your Sex* , and that of a young Englishwoman traveling to Warsaw with her boyfriend in Pete Ohs's * Eruption *. A blend of mumblecore and homage to Polish cinema, this bittersweet chronicle of love and fidelity (Charli XCX's character flees her boyfriend, whom she doesn't particularly love, to seek refuge in the arms of an old friend) offers Charli XCX a role diametrically opposed to the made-up, sexy persona she enjoys portraying on stage and in her music videos. Funny, irritating, and oscillating between boredom and desire, Charli XCX embodies Bethany—a character she co-wrote with the director and the other actors—with spontaneity and brilliance.
Japanese horror film and French short film
And what's next? It's hard to know what direction the singer will take, though she says she wants to act more in films. She recently finished filming alongside Milly Alcock, Norman Reedus, and Hailey Gates in front of the camera of Japanese horror master Takashi Miike (a film currently in post-production, which Charli XCX is also producing). Perhaps we'll also see her in the feature-length version of an Oscar-winning French short film? Directed by Alexandre Singh and Natalie Musteata, the queer, black-and-white alternate history film Two People Exchanging Saliva was a true phenomenon during the previous Oscar campaign, thanks in part to Charli XCX's laconic but effective review on Letterboxd and TikTok. "It was like a gift from heaven," says Violeta Kreimer, the film's co-producer. Natalie Musteata even received a personal message from Charli XCX: "She told me she was a fan. I replied that I was too!" Did the buzz generated by Charli XCX contribute to the French film winning its Oscar for Best Short Film? " At least, at the press conference following the ceremony, that was the first question journalists asked!" Alexandre Singh says with amusement. This has certainly piqued the filmmakers' and producers' interest in working with Charli XCX on a feature-length adaptation of the film they are developing. Violeta Kreimer confirms: "We're considering it, either for the soundtrack or as an actress!"
Eruption by Pete Ohs
In theaters since June 24th
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@erupcja_fp
I Want Your Sex by Gregg Araki
In theaters July 29
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100 Nights of Heroes by Julia Jackman
Available on Paramount+
