The pop star Charli XCX, known for her relentless work ethic, has quickly pivoted from a chart-topping album to a new venture: acting. With seven film projects reportedly in development, her first significant on-screen role arrives in the independent film Erupcja.
Shot over a few weeks in Warsaw during the summer of 2024, the film serves as a low-stakes trial run. At a brief 71 minutes, the project has the feel of an unrefined demo rather than a finished product. Charli plays Bethany, a Londoner visiting the Polish capital with her boyfriend, Rob. The character, cool and largely inexpressive behind sunglasses, feels like a direct extension of the singer’s established pop persona.
The film’s title, Eruption, refers to a volcano that supposedly erupts whenever Bethany reconnects with her old friend, Nel. However, the promised emotional explosion never truly materializes. The central friendship, which is meant to be intense and self-destructive, is conveyed more through voiceover narration than through the actors’ performances. The film is characterized by icy silences, restrained emotions, and freighted looks that often fail to convince.
While the director frames Warsaw’s drab concrete and vibrant graffiti beautifully, the central relationship remains frustratingly chilly. A frenetic montage of a night out at a club offers glimpses of a charged bond, but the evidence is left in tantalizing shards. The audience is told about the depth of the characters’ conversations but is rarely shown them.
The result is a slight and shallow sketch of characters—one lonely, the other self-centered—that leaves one wishing the film had tapped into the simmering emotional undercurrent it only suggests. For Charli XCX, this appears to be a practice run; the real performance may be yet to come.
