Netflix’s Queen follows a renowned Parisian tailor and drag queen returning to his hometown in order to make amends with his daughter. It is currently streaming on Netflix.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers.
Plot summary
Queen (Królowa in Polish) follows the fancy life of Sylwester, who left Poland to follow his passion and be his true self in Paris.
The film introduces him as he is determined to close his business and retire to the south of France, after years of performing as a famous drag queen, Loretta, in Paris.
Not only is he an excellent performer, he also has his own brand as a tailor, given his attention to detail and his sense of fashion. A tribute to Loretta is prepared at the beginning of the film by a group of drag queens, with the choreographer Corentin.
While preparing the costumes for the tribute night, Sylwester constantly ignores a letter. He finally opens it after much deliberation. It so happens, his daughter Wiola, whom he has not met since she was born, requires a kidney transplant and his granddaughter Iza has written a letter to him requesting him to help them out.
He is confused and talks to Corentin about it, who urges him to go and help his family out. After Loretta’s last performance, Sylwester finally makes up his mind to go back to Poland and face the past he had left behind.
If you still have doubts about the ending, here’s a full breakdown.
Queen (2022) ending explained in detail:
Facing the past
Once he reaches Poland, Sylwester is met with his granddaughter’s hospitality. She sets him up in a hotel. Sylwester is reminded of how homophobic his hometown was as he observes a homophobic graffiti on a street wall. He is extremely uncomfortable with the stagnant underdevelopment of his hometown as compared to his life in Paris.
He tries to accept the town as it is but his daughter Wiola does not accept him. It is then established that Iza tracked down Sylwester without the knowledge of her mother.
Wiola rejects his help and acts out. Sylwester tries to give some money to Iza as he plans on going back to Paris, to which she reacts badly. Before leaving for Paris, he comes back to check on Wiola. It turns out that she has fallen unconscious and needs immediate medical attention.
As her health worsens, the surgery becomes more crucial and it is done without her legal consent. Iza convinces Wiola that it was for her sake that they had to get it done.
While Wiola and Sylwester recover from the kidney transplant surgery, he moves in with Iza and they bond very well. She opens up to Sylwester about the reason her kidney was rejected for the surgery — she was pregnant.
To make it worse, she did not know if the father was her boyfriend Marek or his best friend Darek. At last, she gets the courage to tell them. The next day, they break into a fight at the miner’s cafeteria, where they all work together.
Mining accident
Sylwester decides to come out to Wiola with her drag queen persona, right after which a mining accident shakes the whole town.
Some miners are trapped underground, including Darek and Marek. Tension ensues as Iza’s water breaks and Wiola finds out about her pregnancy.
Iza gives birth to a boy and they soon figure out that the trapped miners did not survive, except Darek. She grieves Marek’s death while recovering in the hospital, as Wiola and Sylwester prepare for a fundraising concert for the miners’ families.
Soon, Wiola accepts Sylwester while she encourages him to support the cause as she has seen him perform online. Sylwester is hesitant but he agrees and calls Corentin to help him out with the choreography.
The miners go on a strike as they think performing for a crowd is futile. They are convinced that their performance is for a good cause when they witness some of the performers making progress.
A famous singer is called for the event as that would raise its publicity. The singer backs out at the last moment as per her whims and leaves the event for the townspeople to handle.
Acceptance
As the famous singer leaves unprofessionally, Wiola encourages Sylwester to bring out Loretta. Sylwester hesitates at first but gives in and decides to bring Loretta to the event.
Iza makes peace with her loss and reconnects with Darek as her baby is to be operated on due to premature birth complications. This is where they find out about Loretta online.
Both the baby’s operation and the event take place on the same day.
Beginning with the miners’ performance, Loretta is soon introduced while everyone in the audience is in awe. Loretta’s performance influences plenty of drag queens in Paris to donate for the cause and later, in the news, it is reported that drag queens saved their town.
All goes well as everyone in the audience accepts Loretta — making it easier for Sylwester to accept her too — and the operation is a success. Sylwester goes back to Paris and resumes his business, and Iza and Darek go with him as well.
Wiola has found a life partner while Iza and Darek are thriving with their son under the care of Sylwester. The film ends with Sylwester being accepted for who he is without losing his family.
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