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- From pop stages to film sets: Charli XCX’s rapid transition
- Erupcja distilled: a brief, volatile Warsaw romance
- Why the performances register: chemistry, restraint, risk
- Pete Ohs’ approach: improvisation, atmosphere, New Wave echoes
- Core themes: eruption, escape, and the messy logic of desire
- Supporting cast, sound, and the film’s dreamlike rhythm
- Festival run and where to see Erupcja
- What Erupcja leaves you thinking about
Charli XCX is quietly reshaping her public image, swapping headline-grabbing pop antics for roles that demand intensity and nuance. This season she’s been on festival screens, stepping into layered characters and sparking conversations about indie romance, identity, and cinematic risk.
From pop stages to film sets: Charli XCX’s rapid transition
After cameoing in the Gen Z comedy Overcompensating, Charli XCX expanded her screen presence at major festivals. She appears in multiple new films that mix politics, fantasy and intimacy.
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- 100 Nights of Hero — a fashion-tinged fantasy romance screening at Venice.
- Sacrifice — Romain Gavras’ eco-politics satire at TIFF.
- Erupcja — Pete Ohs’ Warsaw-set sapphic drama, also at TIFF.
Rather than just collecting credits, she seems choosy. Erupcja is the most revealing test of her acting range. The film is compact, quiet, and depends on subtle emotional turns.
Erupcja distilled: a brief, volatile Warsaw romance
The film centers on a love triangle played out over a handful of restless days in modern Warsaw. Charli plays Bethany, a British tourist whose return to the city rekindles an intense connection with a local florist.
Lena Góra portrays Nel, the Warsaw native who shares a history with Bethany. A third figure, Rob, is Bethany’s boyfriend, whose plans for romance collide with Bethany’s drifting attention. The story unfolds through small encounters, late-night parties and a detached narrator.
Plot beats that matter
- Bethany arrives in Warsaw with a proposal-filled itinerary.
- Nel senses Bethany’s presence before they meet again.
- Old chemistry and fresh recklessness ignite in bars and apartments.
- An omniscient voiceover frames the characters’ impulses and mistakes.
Why the performances register: chemistry, restraint, risk
Erupcja leaves little room for spectacle. It depends on honest, immediate acting. That puts pressure on Charli and Góra to carry long, intimate scenes.
Charli XCX surprises with a performance that balances confidence and instability. She plays Bethany as a wanderer who uses romance to complicate her life, not complete it. Lena Góra’s Nel is guarded and tender in equal measure.
- Their interactions feel improvised yet deliberate.
- Small gestures speak louder than exposition.
- Rob’s bewilderment gives the story stakes beyond the lovers’ private world.
Pete Ohs’ approach: improvisation, atmosphere, New Wave echoes
Director Pete Ohs builds scenes organically. He often begins with an outline, then lets conversations and choices shape the moment on set.
This method creates uneven but intimate textures. Moments land like stolen glimpses. The film’s visual tone owes a debt to the French New Wave — kinetic camera work, loose narratives and a preference for mood over tidy explanations.
How the shooting style serves the story
- Actors collaborate in scene construction.
- Frames feel voyeuristic, as if we’re watching private choices unfold.
- Casual wardrobe and real locations ground the romance.
Core themes: eruption, escape, and the messy logic of desire
The title — translated as “eruption” — is both literal and metaphoric. Reunions between Bethany and Nel function like unpredictable bursts of feeling.
The film explores whether love can be a repeated escape from routine, or if it is simply a pattern of impulsive decisions. Characters ask whether their bond is fate, addiction, or a brief reprieve from ordinary life.
Tension grows because the film resists neat judgments. It refuses to label behavior strictly heroic or harmful. Instead, it shows people acting impulsively, then living with the consequences.
Supporting cast, sound, and the film’s dreamlike rhythm
Jeremy O. Harris turns up as an American painter who adds another dimension to the social circle. A detached narrator provides context and a dry lens on the lovers’ escapades.
- Sound design favors ambient nightlife and intimate silences.
- Cinematography blends poised compositions with handheld immediacy.
- Costuming emphasizes ordinary clothes, highlighting raw emotion over glamour.
Festival run and where to see Erupcja
Erupcja made waves at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film’s understated intensity resonated with critics seeking intimate queer storytelling.
- Venice featured Charli’s other project, 100 Nights of Hero.
- Toronto screened Erupcja alongside Sacrifice, expanding Charli’s festival presence.
- The film later played SXSW, continuing its indie circuit.
What Erupcja leaves you thinking about
The film lingers as a study of impulsive attachment. It asks whether a relationship that erupts repeatedly can ever settle into something stable.
Charli XCX’s performance amplifies that ambiguity. She brings a pop star’s charisma to a role that demands vulnerability and confusion in equal measure.
UPDATE: Mar. 10, 2026, 2:29 p.m. Erupcja premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and is playing at SXSW Film and Television Festival.
