Review of the gay animated film Jim Queen, directed by Nicolas Athane and Marco Nguyen. Colourful and funny.

A rare French gay animated film in the cinematic landscape

As there are not many gay-themed animated film offerings (our favourite remains the series Rick & Steve : The happiest gay couple in the world), one can only be curious to discover Jim Queen, which is also a French creation.

The directors had to overcome a real obstacle course to secure funding, as productions of this kind, 100% gay, often struggle to attract heterosexual audiences to cinemas (who do not really feel concerned) as well as a gay audience that struggles to mobilise (gay community-targeted films often struggle to reach more than 10,000 admissions during their theatrical run). Through sheer persistence and a crowdfunding campaign, Nicolas Athane and Marco Nguyen succeeded, and the magic of cinema can finally work its spell (with, as a bonus, a selection for a Midnight screening at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival).

Jim Queen: a superficial hero facing a strange epidemic

We follow the daily life of Jim Parfait, the cliché of the muscular, popular gay man. Handsome, an influencer who spends his days at the gym and dances in nightclubs, he takes advantage of his assets and his youth. Surprisingly, from the outset, he is an unlikeable character, portrayed as very superficial, self-centred, and sometimes even odious towards others (not very attentive to his brilliant best friend and cruel to his steroid-using “rival” Pavel, voiced by the very funny François Sagat). Jim’s futile existence is sketched alongside that of Lucien, a more likeable and touching skinny young gay man who has not yet come out and is an infatuated fan of his. Fleeing his mother, a homophobic minister, Lucien fulfils his dream of meeting Jim in a club after running away. But Jim violently rejects him.

Unkind to others, Jim is about to be struck by a major twist of fate: an epidemic sweeps through the gay world, and he becomes infected. It is Heterosis, a virus that transforms gays into cliché heterosexuals who are football fans and obsessed with female attributes. While his whole life revolves around appearances and the Paris gay scene, Jim cannot accept becoming heterosexual and losing everything that defines him. He then sets out on a quest to find a cure and realises that Lucien is the only person able to help him. He then offers to team up with him…

A corrosive and uninhibited queer satire

The slightly old-fashioned animation, with its sometimes scribbled aesthetic, may bring South Park to mind (one also thinks of it because of the overall tone, which is deliberately adult and insolent, and definitely refreshing). Although it is clearly a declaration of love for the gay community and champions pride against narrow-minded people, Jim Queen also, and above all, rather fiercely mocks all the clichés that can be part of it. Gym queens in particular get a real dressing-down, but they are not the only ones. With few filters, the creators point to a gay community that struggles to mix with the rest of the LGBT community, obsessed with appearances and easy hookups. It is corrosive and uninhibited, with quite a few crude jokes that often make one laugh out loud.

Humour between LGBT culture and pop references

300% gay and very Parisian Marais too (with amusing nods to the Tuileries and the Le Bears’ Den bar), this candy-like feature film has real momentum. It is full of colour, very fast-paced and fun, with many amusing and flavourful characters. Every scene multiplies the jokes, moving with a certain brilliance from the universal (such as a most surprising parody of an iconic Disney scene) to the ultra-niche (such as a hilariously funny caricature of a “kiffeur”, for example).