Close: A 'Boys Life' Take on the Fragility of Friendship Rings Heartbreakingly True
By Jim Slotek
Rating: B-plus
There is another film in the Oscar race about the break-up of a friendship besides The Banshees of Inisherin.
But Close – the Belgian film nominated for Best International Feature – does not wink charmingly as it ruptures a bond. And far from being mysterious and confounding, it rings utterly true as it captures both the beauty and fragility of young boys’ friendships, amid the storm of growth and social pressure.
The film by Lukas Dhont introduces us to two of the closest friends imaginable. Léo (Eden Dambrine) and Rémi (Gustav De Waele) live on the rural outskirts of town, spending joyous time in each other’s company as they await the start of their next level of schooling.
Gustav De Waele and Eden Dambrine are brothers from other mothers in Close.
They spend sleepovers almost continuously, sharing thoughts instead of sleeping (which they eventually do, physically closely without awkwardness). By day they run and bike and generally breathe in the summer in celebration of their time together. Dhont’s depiction of this verdant exhilaration makes joy itself a visual experience.
Léo and Rémi’s connection is accepted with fondness by both boys’ parents, with little apparent concern so long as they are both happy.
But if, as Sartre maintained, “hell is other people,” school can be a crushing level of hell indeed.
Together, we are impressed by their commonality. But tossed into the maelstrom of other young teens, it’s their differences that come to the fore. Their casual touching is soon noticed, and the girls want to know if they are a couple. This bothers Léo more than it does Rémi. And, turning out to be a natural athlete with a previously undiscovered talent for hockey, Léo soon has new friends in this cauldron of masculinity.
If the joy of their summer friendship tugs at the heartstrings, this new turn of events turns heartbreaking. Rémi decides for a while his role is to be a fan, and his attendance at practices becomes a further source of embarrassment for Léo.
The subtle interplay between young actors Dambrine and De Waele helps us understand that Léo has not simply turned cruel. He understands with obvious sadness that he’s pushing his best friend away in the process of fitting in. It’s a realization that becomes more profound when Close takes its tragic, but easily anticipated sharp left turn, one that changes the tone of the movie.
This second half gives Dambrine another acting palette, one in which he tries to maintain a relationship with Rémi’s mother (Émilie Dequenne). It’s one she welcomes in her emptiness (a sadness that’s compounded by the fact that she works in a hospital maternity ward), but there’s no way for it to end up in a good place. Dequenne’s character has an arc of her own in which she must discover some losses are irreparable.
Close is a wise relationship film in its depiction of both the beauty and the cruelty youth is capable of. It’s not as if the cruelty is not comprehended (unless the perpetrator is a sociopath). It plays like an adult memory of childhood, in which such acts are relived with regret forever.
Close. Directed by Lukas Dhont. Stars Eden Dambrine, Gustav De Waele and Émilie Dequenne. Opening in Canadian theatres on Friday, February 3.