A must-watch.
Underneath the Belgian summer sun, Léo and Rémi share a friendship as intimate as it is innocent. This innocence is disrupted and Close is the story of that disruption.
SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAY Léo and Rémi, two 13-year-olds, spend the summer as boys are wont to do — hiding from make-believe soldiers and whisking through the fields of flowers where Léo's family works. Endless sleepovers and hushed conversations reveal the closeness shared between the two in the bucolic bubble they've created. Soon, though, school starts, and Léo and Rémi's relationship is put under the scrutiny of their peers' watchful eyes.
After the release of Girl, Dhont initially said that his next film would have a queer character at its center. In the end, Close's ambiguity in regard to the sexual identity of its two young leads is a choice that makes the film a much more poignant examination of male friendship and how the world doesn't let boys — queer or not — love each other.
The effect that this relationship has on Léo and Rémi is what matters and De Waele and Dambrine portray an emotional complexity that is stunning to behold. Dambrine has much more to do, especially in the latter half of the film, but he carries the burden with a resolve that makes it all the more heartbreaking when the cracks do begin to show.
Ultimately, what makes Close so crushing is the journey Léo is left with beyond the indelible final image. Dhont forgoes an obvious ending for a more understated closing, one that underscores the idea that, in the face of irreparable loss, Léo is one of the lucky ones. In some ways, he will be able to move on and heal. Rémi won't get that chance. Dhont chooses forgiveness, not malice or resentment, even though it would, in some ways, be justified.
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