The Royal Hotel is Thelma and Louise for the TikTok generation, and we are here for it! Directed by acclaimed feminist filmmaker Kitty Green, it tells the story of backpackers and best friends, Liv (Jessica Henwick) and Hanna (Julia Garner). whose vacation becomes a nightmare when it hits an unexpected detour.

When we first meet Liv and Hanna, they are day-drinking on a Booze Cruise. Dancing and joyfully making out with strangers, they appear to be living the dream as two fresh-faced American university grads. But when Liv realizes she’s maxed out her credit card while trying to order another drink, the holiday abruptly ends. What initially looks like a story about women’s pleasure soon turns into a tale of women’s undervalued labour and the violence that too often accompanies it.

Out of money, the young women find work as barmaids at a pub in a remote, Outback mining town. The temp agency that places them warns Liv and Hannah they’ll need to be okay with “male attention.” Of course, we know that’s code for sexual harassment. Still, the girls are optimistic their work placement will be a wonderful adventure, so long as there are Kangaroos!

Observational in style, Green’s second narrative film expertly builds tension as the backpackers uncover the seedy nature of their surroundings. When Hanna and Liv arrive at the titular Royal Hotel’s bar, the sexism they encounter is upsetting but casual. The Royal Hotel’s owner, Billy (Hugo Weaving) blithely refers to Hanna as the C-word, but insists he means it as a compliment. In response, Liv wonders if the epithet has a different meaning in Australia. Soon, however, the misogyny ramps up and it’s obvious no one is joking…

Confronted with an almost entirely male clientele who routinely harass – and sometimes physically attack – the women who serve them liquor, Liv and Hanna must ask the questions all women have asked themselves at some point: how long do you let yourself suffer before fighting back? And is fighting back even worth it?

As a film, The Royal Hotel feels terrifyingly real, thanks to small but important details. The bar in which most of the action takes place is meticulously designed to look realistically shabby and lived in. in fact, The Royal Hotel is the most common name for a pub in Australia. Indeed, the setting looks and feels relatably terrifying as the sort of place where Drinking Culture – and an especially insidious form of sexism that accompanies it – flourishes.

The Royal Hotel also benefits from Garner and Henwick’s subtle performances as young adults forced to grow up in the face of heightened misogyny. As the camera zooms in on their faces, the pictures truly contain multitudes.  When the friends fight with each other over how aggressively to respond to their customers’ problematic behaviour, the conflict feels real. Hanna and Liv’s frustration with one another – and the situation in which they find themselves – is authentic, and only serves to ratchet up the tension. Outnumbered by toxic men, how will these young women survive if they cannot rely on each other for protection?

Ultimately, The Royal Hotel is a meditation on how terrifying it is to be a woman. If you’re in the market for a movie that honours the existential importance of female friendship while critiquing toxic masculinity, The Royal Hotel is just what the doctor (of Gender Studies) ordered!