Close

About the Film

Leo and Remi are two thirteen-year-old best friends, whose close friendship is thrown into disarray when their schoolmates notice their intimacy, causing a rift between them. When their seemingly unbreakable bond is suddenly, tragically torn apart, Leo struggles to understand what has happened. Close is an emotionally transformative and unforgettable portrait of the intersection of friendship and love, identity and independence, and heartbreak and healing.

Sensitively directed by Lukas Dhont, Close was winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, following on Dhont’s 2018 success with Girl, also a big winner at Cannes. Close took seven prizes at Belgium’s Magritte Awards, amongst others, and went on to earn an Oscar nomination at the 2023 Academy Awards. In June, Close won the Lux European Audience Film Award following more than 500 screenings set up for the event across the European Union.

Reviews

Beautifully shot and skilfully edited, the film is strongly evocative; an especially astute, intimate exploration of relational politics between young boys: - an astonishingly well-observed coming-of-age drama.
Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall

Dambrine’s performance is by some distance one of the most extraordinary by a child his age I’ve ever seen: tempered, tightly wound, as truthful as a flower.
Leslie Felperin, Financial Times

A tactile, subtle, moving film about shattered innocence, the pressures of masculinity and how wondrous but fragile that intimate friendship among young boys can be.
Thelma Adams, AARP Movies for Grownups

Builds upon the promise of 2018’s Girl, confirming Dhont as a deft and empathetic chronicler of the tumultuous anguish and ecstasy of adolescence.
Mark Kermode, Observer (UK)

Dhont knows how to capture intimacy so powerfully on camera, and allows emotion to be expressed without words. I think most importantly he wants us to think about how we treat others, how harmful and hurtful it can be if we don’t let love flourish.
Alex Billington, FirstShowing.net