Triple Threat is a very modern story about three friends, Chloe (Stacey Maltin), Maggie (Margarita Zhitnikova) and Gus (Jay DeYonker), who meet whilst at college in New York. Chloe and Maggie develop a musical together, Firefly, and following a threesome with Chloe and her boyfriend, Gus joins the cast. This happens after the existing lead actor, Griffin (Aramie Payton), drops out a week before their premiere to pursue a more lucrative underwear modeling contract. Life for the three sexually fluid students is fun and adventurous, and relatively simple. Gus and Chloe briefly become lovers.
Fast forward ten years and life is more real and life goals are more serious. Firefly has gone from strength to strength and is attracting the attention of major Broadway producers. Chloe and Maggie remain firmly committed to the production. Chloe has a boyfriend and Maggie has a girlfriend. Pansexual singleton Gus remains the lead actor in the musical, although he dreams about fatherhood, and spending time with a child. The girls have no plans re motherhood. Griffin is now a major star actor.
Gus approaches Chloe and Maggie to help him in his quest for fatherhood and between them they agree that Maggie will be a surrogate mother to Gus’s baby fathered with one of Chloe’s eggs. Chloe wants nothing to do with the baby, but is happy to repay Gus and Maggie for the contribution they made to Firefly’s success. Maggie also is not interested in being a mother but is happy to help Gus. The child will therefore be Gus’s responsibility whilst both women focus on their theatrical careers. Both Chloe and Maggie’s partners are broadly accepting of the plan.
So far, so good…in theory. Of course, for any kind of parenthood, the planning stage is the easy part, and once the reality of pregnancy kicks in, emotions, priorities and relationships take a rollercoaster ride, especially when they conflict with careers. This would normally be enough to deal with but the pregnancy timing coincides with Firefly signing up with major Broadway producers and funding and the inevitable issues around the ‘arranged marriage’ with new business investors.
Stacey Maltin not only co-stars in this film, she also directed it, co-wrote it and co-produced it. Definitely, a rising star to keep an eye on. This film very much feels like her story, which only adds to the realism. She has created is a very modern piece of work that includes themes of chosen families, planned parenthood, family/career choices, surrogacy, loyalty and friendship. Any traditional thinking on gender and sexuality is cast to one side, something most other film directors need to pay a lot more attention to. There is an excellent chemistry between the cast and all characters are very real and believable. The music and dance scenes are well orchestrated and don’t overwhelm the film. This is a contemporary queer story where the queerness of the characters isn’t central to the storyline – this needs to happen more often
“Triple Threat” arrives in select US theaters and on VOD on June 21, 2022
Review: Ris Fatah Queerguru’s Contributing Editor Ris Fatah is a successful fashion/luxury business consultant (when he can be bothered) who divides and wastes his time between London and Ibiza. He is a lover of all things queer, feminist, and human rights in general. @ris.fatah
