Jeremy Angust is a famous architect who has just given a talk in Paris. On his way to the airport, he gives a ride to Texel Textor, a young woman who keeps talking and makes him miss his flight. They meet again in the airport lounge, where her stories slowly connect to Jeremy's hidden past and the death of his wife. The film is a dark, tense mystery with a strange dreamlike mood, and it keeps asking whether Texel is real or part of Jeremy's mind.
The clearest woke element is the film's gender change from the novel, which turns the male Textor into a young woman who controls the main conversation and forces a powerful man to face his crimes. The film gives her a role as an avenging voice against male violence, and it includes direct talk about assault, empathy, and the special taboo of hitting a woman. The story also shows her attraction to a woman and a sexual assault scene between two women, but it does not build a queer romance or identity around them. These points are important to the central encounter, but the main subject remains guilt, self-deception, and the cost of chasing perfection.
Community feedback
Was our 59% Woke rating accurate?
Loading review details…
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for A Perfect Enemy.
Woke representation / casting
The film puts Texel, a young woman, at the center of the main power struggle with a famous male architect. The role was changed from a male character in the novel, so gender is a clear part of the casting choice. The director calls her a woman who teaches the man a lesson, and the actress calls the role a rare chance to play a female psychopath. The casting has an identity focus, but it does not create a broad diversity pattern across the whole cast.
39%
Woke political dialogue
Texel says that hitting a woman is especially taboo. The characters discuss assault, forced sexual contact, empathy, and male violence. The final exchange presents her as a daughter who would inherit Jeremy's violence and asks him to admit killing his wife. These lines occur in the central dialogue, but the film does not give a long activist speech.
38%
Identity-driven story themes
The film changes its central mind game into a woman confronting a man over violence, guilt, and harm done to women. Texel acts as an avenging figure who forces Jeremy to face his hidden crime. The story treats her as both a dangerous person and a voice that exposes his lies, so the message is not a simple celebration of women. The gender-centered conflict is important, but the wider story is still about guilt and a broken mind.
48%
Western institutional / cultural critique
The film attacks Jeremy's polished public image and his claim that he builds for social good. Texel exposes the gap between his public respectability and his sexual violence, cruelty, and lack of empathy. The dialogue treats male entitlement and violence against women as moral failures. The film does not broaden this into a critique of Western institutions, capitalism, religion, or family life.
34%
Woke character or canon changes
The source novel presents Textor Texel as a man. The film changes Textor into Texel Textor, a young woman. The change shapes the main plot because she becomes a possible daughter, an avenging figure, and the person who confronts Jeremy. The film also uses that change to connect the story to women speaking against male violence.
50%
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
Not present. The available X search found no anti-woke complaints, defenses, boycotts, or review-bombing. Other public discussion focuses on the twist, pacing, and whether Texel is real. No clear news or social-media campaign says the film pushes woke or DEI content.
0%
Creator track record context
Kike Maíllo has a mixed genre record, with some recent work about LGBT discrimination, women's discrimination, chosen families, and diversity. Cristina Clemente often aims for equal or greater numbers of female characters and gives women their own voices. Mireia Juárez has a repeated record of widening representation through naturalistic casting. Most other writers and producers have little public activist history, so the overall creator context is moderate.
32%
Production
Movie · 2025
When intelligence agent Kathryn Woodhouse is suspected of betraying the nation, her husband – also a legendary agent – faces the ultimate test of whether to be loyal to his…
Movie · 2018
Looking to investigate recruitment techniques of ISIS to lure women into Syria, a journalist creates a Facebook profile of a Muslim convert.
Movie · 2016
Maureen, mid-20s, is a personal shopper for a media celebrity. The job pays for her stay in Paris, a city she refuses to leave until she makes contact with her twin brother who…
Movie · 2019
A woman grieving over the death of her daughter loses grip of reality when she begins to think her girl may still be alive.
Movie · 2017
Dr. Steven Murphy is a renowned cardiovascular surgeon who presides over a spotless household with his wife and two children.
Movie · 2016
When his girlfriend goes missing, David must track down her whereabouts after he realizes she's not who she was pretending to be.
Movie · 2022
Leonard is an English tailor who used to craft suits on London’s world-famous Savile Row. After a personal tragedy, he’s ended up in Chicago, operating a small tailor shop in a…
Movie · 2016
If Nick Barrow can stay alive for 21 days, he'll die happy. Everyone Nick knows wants him dead; Mob bosses, contract killers, and dirty cops.
