Close

I became really interested in Close when it was nominated for the Academy Award for Best International Feature (it also won the Grand Prix at Cannes this year).  Luckily it is now screening at the Broadway and I was able to see this poignant coming of age story last night.  Remi (Gustav De Waele) and Leo (Eden Dambrine) are thirteen year old boys who have an incredibly close friendship.  They spend all of their time together playing imaginative games and telling fanciful stories to each other.  However, when they begin secondary school, they are bullied by a group of their peers who notice their physical affection for each other.  This begins to bother Leo, especially when homophobic slurs are used, so he seeks out other friendships and goes to great lengths to avoid spending time with Remi.  Remi is devastated by this and confronts Leo about his behavior but it leads to a physical altercation which leaves him in tears.  When a tragedy occurs Leo must learn to live with the guilt he feels.  What I loved most about the narrative is that it is not necessarily about the sexuality of the two boys (although that interpretation works) but rather about them being viewed as different for having an unconventional friendship that people can't understand.  It does begin to meander a bit in the second half, although the portrayal of how a school reacts to a tragedy is spot-on (unfortunately, I have experienced this several times), but it is worth it for the emotional conclusion between Leo and Remi's mother (Emilie Dequenne) which brought me, and many in my audience, to tears.  The two young, and relatively unknown, actors give lovely performances and I was particularly struck by how well they portrayed their feelings for each other, especially during a scene where Leo watches Remi perform a solo during an orchestra concert.  I also really loved the luminous cinematography and the recurring visual motif of running and bicycling through a field of flowers (which makes the final shot so devastating).  It is beautiful and heartbreaking and I highly recommend it.