CLOSE

Director: Lukas Dhont

2023, BELGIUM, 105min., PG-13

Language: French, Flemish, Dutch with English subtitles

Screenwriter: Lukas Dhont and Angelo Tijssens

Cast: Eden Dambrine, Gustav de Waele, Émilie Dequenne, Léa Drucker.

 

Did you know…Queer Thursday Cinema’s excellent selection of films on the LGBTQ community is the brainchild of OUT FILM CT, and sponsored by Cigna? And the films – like this month’s Close – are open to all! Two 13-year-old boys, Rémi and Léo, live an almost idyll existence in the picturesque countryside, as best friends whose mutual affection is seen as normal by their families. But when they enter high school, their close relationship is immediately mocked. In an act of self-preservation, Léo takes up ice hockey and hangs out with the popular crowd, rejecting Rémi. After they are painfully separated, Léo looks back at their innocent love, and finally allows himself to feel the emotions he – and so many men – keep locked inside. Winner, Grand Prix 2020 Cannes Film Festival. “It’s a treasure you’ll never forget” – Randy Myers, The Mercury News.