When two 13-year-old boys (Eden Dambrine, Gustav De Waele), who are very close to each other, are suddenly asked in school if they are in fact a couple, it is the beginning of the end of their friendship.

As in the case of the director’s last film, Girl (2018), this is the story of young people who don’t behave in a way that society expects of them. There’s a nostalgic and perhaps even provocative beauty to the boys’ intimate relationship, reinforced by two exceptional amateur performances; the exact nature of their bond is left unsaid, and remains irrelevant.

The film’s emotional manipulation is perhaps not convincing every step of the way, but it’s a delicately handled tearjerker, impossible to dismiss. 

2022-Belgium-France-The Netherlands. 104 min. Color. Directed by Lukas Dhont. Screenplay: Lukas Dhont, Angelo Tijssens. Cast: Eden Dambrine (Léo), Gustav De Waele (Rémi), Émilie Dequenne (Sophie), Léa Drucker, Kevin Janssens, Marc Weiss.

Cannes: Grand Prix.

Last word: “I wanted to, on the one hand, show this tender, loving connection between two young men because I know that we have so rarely been offered that. But I also wanted to show how we, as a society, murder the beautiful friendship between boys, and how we have torn them apart. I’m hopeful that this can change, but all too often, we create loneliness, and with this film, I wanted to confront that or look at it in the eye.” (Dhont, RogerEbert.com)