If You Love ‘Fleabag,’ Watch This Witty, Tragicomic Love Story

Those who may still be struggling to get over Fleabag‘s Hot Priest (Andrew Scott) may be in luck, because Goran Stolevski’s film Of an Age is now on Peacock, and it has a lot in common with Fleabag, the tragicomic magnum opus from Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Of an Age is an Australian LGBTQ+ love story brimming with intellectual wit, a quirky plot, and a touching and believable love story, all of which Fleabag excels at too.

Stolevski’s second feature-length film after the 2022 horror film You Won’t Be Alone, Of an Age is primarily told over the course of a single day. In 1999, Kol, played by Elias Anton, a recent high school graduate, receives a call from his best friend and dance partner, Ebony (Hattie Hancock), that she is stranded in an unknown town after a night out without her wallet or a way home. The duo are scheduled to attend a dance final later that morning. In a desperate attempt to rescue Ebony and make it to the final, Kol calls Ebony’s brother Adam (Thom Green), who is in town before starting his PhD. Over the course of 24 hours, Adam and Kol go from complete strangers stuck in a car to tearfully saying goodbye after spending the night together. Stolevski’s gorgeous storytelling elevates the film in such a way that viewers may end up just as gutted as they were after finishing Fleabag.

‘Of an Age’s Romance Is Witty and Playful

Of an Age is upheld by the genuine intellectual chemistry between the two characters, a result of the quality of Stolevski’s writing. Adam and Kol are immediately drawn to each other because of their shared love of literature, which they make subtle, flirtatious references to. Adam is pleasantly surprised to learn that Kol is reading Jorge Luis Borges, an author he studied. Kol makes a reference to Franz Kafka after reading a sign for a meat company as they drive by. Later, when Adam asks him who his type is, Kol says, “Someone who reads a book,” and they share a smirking glance at each other through the mirror. They also swap movie recommendations of Wong Kar-wai‘s queer classic Happy Together and Alfred Hitchcock‘s queer-coded Strangers on a Train, both of which have thematic similarities to Adam and Kol’s story.

It’s not just the nerdy references which make Adam and Kol’s banter so fun, but also the way they play off of each other. At one point, Kol uses the word “vicissitudes,” and Adam mockingly asks if he is the kind of person who will practice words in front of a mirror. At another point, Kol says he heard that Adam was a “lone wolf” in high school, to which Adam responds, “Yeah, it probably has something to do with the fact that I never made eye contact with humans, or the trouble I had sort of arranging my face into expressions that were considered… warm? Or friendly? Just non-murderous, really.” This moment is funny, but also accurate, given that throughout the whole road trip, the two characters sneak glances at each other, but struggle to make direct eye contact, giving their flirtation abelievably awkward tone. It is these subtleties in the writing and performances which give Of an Age the same smart, quick tone as Fleabag.

Related

Miss ‘Fleabag’? Watch This Underrated Max Comedy Series

There’ll never be another ‘Fleabag,’ but this series has the best parts of it and more!

‘Of an Age’ Has an Absurdist Edge Like ‘Fleabag’

Part of what makes Of an Age one of the most underrated films of 2023 is the comedic andabsurd moments built into what is mostly a tearjerker of a film. The story begins with a frenzied ten minutes of chaos as Ebony calls Kol from a payphone, and the two of them become increasingly desperate as they try to solve the unsolvable puzzle of making it to the civic center in under two hours to perform in the dance finals. After hanging up, Kol runs at full speed through the suburbs to Ebony’s friend’s house, painfully determined to find Ebony’s burgundy dress with fringe. Once at the house, he runs up and down the stairs yelling, “Where am I going?” to which Ebony’s friend can’t help laughing. In other words, the stakes seem incredibly high, but they are only high in Ebony and Kols’ minds — from the outsider’s perspective, the way these two are viewing the dance competition as life-or-death is charmingly silly.

Absurd humor is one of the standout elements of Fleabag, where the priest is seemingly haunted by foxes, and Fleabag’s hair won’t stop looking incredibly chic on the day of her mother’s funeral, among countless other quirky details. Like the best tragicomedies, Of an Age manages to break up the heavy moments with levity and laughter, making it tonally similar to Stolevski’s latest project, the 2024 dramedy, Housekeeping for Beginners, which resists clichés and sentimentality in its portrayal of a dysfunctional family.

‘Of an Age’ Brings Nuance to the Romance Genre

Much like Fleabag’s ending, where Fleabag and the priest part ways at a bus stop after mutually realizing that their love story was doomed from the start, Adam and Kol share a short-lived but moving romance which ends up being a stepping stone in their lives, rather than the finale. About halfway through the film, Kol and Adam say goodbye, unaware that they will see each other at a party later that night. They have spent only the length of a workday together at this point, but Kol is fighting back tears as he wishes Adam a “safe and fun PhD,” showing without saying it that he has just met a person whom he could love in an alternate timeline. Undoubtedly, most viewers can relate to this feeling of meeting someone at the wrong time. The equivalent of Fleabag’s devastating “it’ll pass” scene is Adam asking Kol if he can walk him to his door, at which Kol shakes his head because he has not yet come out to his family. This final moment certainly packs a devastating and realistic punch.

In the final segment of the film, Kol reunites with Adam at Ebony’s wedding years down the line, still hoping deep down that he could rekindle what they started years ago. But, to his disappointment, Kol finds that Adam has moved on and gotten married. While this ending is painful because the characters seem so right for each other, it ultimately presents the refreshing idea that just because two characters don’t end up together, that doesn’t mean their story is a tragedy. That they got to have a moment together, however brief, feels surprising and wonderful. As with Fleabag, Of an Age explores more than just romantic love. The film is also about Ebony and Kol’s platonic love for each other, as well as Adam and Ebony’s sibling love. Ultimately, Of an Age is a nuanced, well-written film which steers away from clichés and joins with others like The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert as one of the greats of Australian LGBTQ+ cinema.

Of an Age is available to stream on Peacock in the U.S.

Watch on Peacock