On a film that loosely follows the seasons, to say that Lukas Dhont’s Close might make you weep is as inevitable as saying winter might follow autumn. The emotions are so finely evoked in this masterful coming of age drama they could have been drawn with an eyelash.

13-year-olds Leo (Eden Dambrine) and Remi (Gustav de Waele) are close. The closeness that comes from a shared imagination that turns play into epic adventures. The closeness that makes each an arm and a leg in a shared body, running towards the future. Two halves not yet two wholes. To call them besties is an inadequate description of the kind of friendship that is only possible before wider life takes hold.

On their first day at their new school, they move as one. Their first introductions to their new friends is as an inseparable unit. But it’s here that they encounter the question from their peers that is posed as a non-judgemental ‘Are you together?’. It is one of those questions that is recognizable as, however neutrally expressed, for the benefit of the person asking the question, not the person answering it.

A chain reaction begins. Self-consciousness leads Leo to begin to detach himself from Remi. First in the deliberate withdrawal from physical closeness, next Leo starts to find his own hobbies that Remi is not part of. He no longer waits every morning for their shared bike ride to school together.

A further event leads to the film splitting into a tragic before and after. A separation that tears everything apart beyond repair. The second half is about the repercussions of this rather than their resolution.

Dhont’s Close manages to capture flawless performances from the two young leads. The title of the film is also a description of the intimacy of the camera work, constantly within inches of the actors faces. Their eyes tell their own stories, and the paired back dialogue is a lesson in when saying nothing tells the audience so much more, even when the situation seems to cry out for closure through words.

 

Close is a wounding masterpiece. It aches tragedy and begs questions. Many people will find its journey difficult but also ultimately compelling. The evocation of childhood is universal however its sadness is very particular.

 

 

 

Review by ANDREW HEBDEN

Queerguru Contributing Editor ANDREW HEBDEN is a MEDIA & CULTURAL STUDIES graduate spending his career between London, Beijing, and NYC as an expert in media and social trends. As part of the expanding minimalist FIRE movement, he recently returned to the UK and lives in Soho. He devotes as much time as possible to the movies, theatre, and the gym. His favorite thing is to try something (anything) new every day.

 

P.S. Andrew Hebden reviewed CLOSE, winner of the CANNES GRAND PRIX and now Belgium’s Official Submission to the Academy Awards, at BFI LONDON FILM FESTIVAL