CLOSE
Cert 12A
104 mins
BBFC advice: Contains suicide references, homophobia, upsetting scenes
Close is intimate, memorable and a heck of a tough watch.
Lukas Dhont recreates the joy and despair of childhood friendships so precisely that I was transported back nearly 50 years.
It prompted that feeling of happiness when friends came to call and that sense of desperation when they didn't.
Meanwhile, it also sparks recollections of the occasionally successful and mostly failed attempts to be one of the cool kids.
Close stars Eden Dambrine as Léo and Gustav De Waele as Rémi, 13-year-olds who are the very best of friends.
Indeed, Léo spends almost every night at Rémi's home, sleeping innocently in the same bed with the full knowledge of both parents.
The two are utterly inseparable to the point that some classmates at their new school believe they are gay.
Nothing is ever said between them about it but bullying prompts Léo to rethink how he presents himself and the pair become more distant.
And then a seismic event happens, throwing a harsh perspective on what seemed to be small actions.
As said, Close is superbly observed but couldn't have had such an impact without the remarkable and natural performances of Dambrine and De Waele.
Incredibly, Dhont discovered Dambrine on a train to Ghent, simply interacting with his friends.
Now they are all going to the Oscars - and deserve to. Close may not be big on action but it is nonetheless a movie which will stay in the mind for a long time.
Reasons to watch: Intimate and memorable
Reasons to avoid: Not huge on action
Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: None
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 9/10
Did you know? This was Lukas Dhont's second film and was the winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
The final word. Lukas Dhont: "The wounds that are shown in the film are, I think, deeply universal. We have all been in friendship and have felt the heartbreak of friendship." W
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