film
Close
directed by Lukas Dhont, Belgium / Netherlands / France 2022, 105' (English friendly)
- The most moving film of this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Lukas Dhont’s Grand Prix-winning Close is a sensual, tender tale of friendship between two 13-year-olds. Léo and Rémi love spending time with each other, their relationship is intense, spontaneous and lively. But silly gossip, peer pressure and feeling lost in a world that is never obvious cause Léo to start distancing himself and hurting Rémi.
- There is no one else in contemporary cinema that can work with young actors like the author of the memorable Girl: the truth rings out from every gesture, glance and word of teenage performers. Dhont tells a story about the intrinsic helplessness of adolescence. Who, at 13, is able to assess the strength of their feelings and decisions? The 31-year-old Belgian director does not judge anyone, instead he is guided by an extraordinary empathy, inherent only in the greatest humanists of cinema. Close is not only a beautifully filmed coming-of-age story, but above all a universal film about accepting one’s mistakes and learning to endure the most difficult, painful emotions, as well as a story about the power of forgiveness that brings catharsis.
