Film Review: CLOSE (2022): A Heartbreaking, Marvelously Acted Film That is One of the Best Movies of the Year

Close Review

Close (2022) Film Review, a movie directed by Lukas Dhont, written by Angelo Tijssens and Lukas Dhont and starring Eden Dambrine, Gustav De Waele, Émilie Dequenne, Léa Drucker, Kevin Janssens and Marc Weiss.

Filmmaker Lukas Dhont has crafted one of the most remarkable pictures of the year with the powerful film, Close, which stars young actor Eden Dambrine in one of the year’s strongest performances. It’s rare for a picture to floor you the way this movie does. It opens with scenes that are interesting and captivating between two young teenage boys named Rémi (Gustav De Waele) and Léo (Dambrine). Rémi and Léo complement each other in wonderfully creative ways. One has dark hair while the other has blonde hair but that’s where their differences seem to end. They enjoy each other’s company and don’t let any sort of physical boundaries stop them from living their fullest lives. Then, as often happens in life, some young people their own age bring their “different” type of connection to the boys’ attention and these young teenagers’ lives will forever be altered.

There are scenes of the two young boys doing things that people their age often do. One of them plays the flute while another is immersed in playing sports such as soccer and hockey. These young characters hang out, they playfully wrestle with one another as well but is a friendship with no physical boundaries still a friendship or is it something more? In Close, it doesn’t matter because whatever the relationship between the two boys is, that’s between them and is really nobody else’s business. If not for the interference of others in the outside world, what happens next would probably have not happened.

Tragedy strikes as Léo is informed by his mom Nathalie (Léa Drucker) that Rémi is no longer around. The scene that follows has Léo riding his bicycle very fast to try to realize what, exactly, is going on. It’s not fair to spoil the way the rest of the movie unfolds because it is so compelling to watch. How does one cope with unexpected tragic circumstances? In Dhont’s first-rate movie, every scene manages to captivate the viewer leaving them to wonder which way Léo will turn next.

Dambrine is the star of the movie. Every scene he’s in during the early stages of the picture is simply amazing. He lights up the screen in the beginning of the picture with hope and the wonder and beauty of life is captured by the performer in the early stages of the movie. Gustav De Waele is equally compelling. When Rémi begins to be challenged by the series of events that occur in the movie, De Waele captures this character’s confusion so accurately. When Dambrine’s Léo starts to become more and more frustrated by the events that happen in the picture, his character changes significantly and Dambrine is more than up to the task of offering the audience some very complex emotions that certainly define his role.

The best supporting performance in the film is from Émilie Dequenne as Rémi’s mom, Sophie who works in a hospital. At one point late in the film, Léo takes a bus to see her and when he arrives, he is told by Sophie that she is working. Then, in the next scene, Léo and Sophie are driving back and one of the most emotional sequences I’ve ever seen follows. Both performers are outstanding in this scene, in particular, which may have moved me more than any other scene I’ve witnessed at the movies this year. Dequenne’s character is full of complex emotions and Dambrine’s Léo is hanging on just by a thread. Dhont ends up creating one of the most strikingly haunting and powerful scenes of all-time. There’s also a powerful performance earlier in the picture from Kevin Janssens as Peter, the father who has lost so much and can’t hold it together even when he tries to be strong for those surrounding him.

Close is a movie that’s difficult to discuss without delving deep into some of the individual scenes. That, in turn, may give more of the plot away than I’d care to reveal because the beauty of this film is how it pulls the viewer in and never lets go. Movies like Close are few and far between. It’s not often that a picture makes you re-evaluate the way we perceive the world and the people around us. While people grow throughout their lives, they should not have to suffer for the way they choose to live their lives at a particular moment in time. When teenagers are at that special age, they need to feel and experience the beauty and wonder of life the ways they can before reality closes in for better or worse. Close reminds us of the unjust consequences for our feelings, emotions and actions. It’s a portrait of the human condition that cannot be ignored. It is one of the year’s best films.

Rating: 10/10

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