This is my favourite among the Oscar nominees for Best international film. The main kid never acted before, yet he gave one of the most powerful and challenging performances I've seen recently. THAT scene halfway through the movie broke my heart, and the ending was beautiful and cathartic. Lukas Dhont's directing style reminds me a lot of Celine Sciamma, both directors capture kids' behaviour in a realistic and compassionate way.
Remembering the scene with Leo in the arm cast. I was a mess. It said so much about how no one would judge a male for crying from physical pain, or anyone for screaming on a roller coaster. That moment was just beautifully telegraphed. For a film w/ little dialogue, there is much to be said!
Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but maybe you could see the character of Remi as an manifestation of childhood itself. As a kid you try to rid yourself of your childhood as fast as possible and reach adulthood, but damn do you long for it when you finally do get there.
Wonderful take. Some people have said that Remi could also represent LGBT+ kids, and the toll that heteronormative and gender roles take on you. In my experience as a little gay boy in a very macho society, childhood and adolescence were awful times; adults (and their kids) made my life quite miserable. It's a bit sad but I do not look back at it with longing feelings...
@RcsN505 This movie definitely resonates differently with the gay community. I think we see it through an entirely different lens. Your interpretation is what I took from the film. The movie broke my heart.
Completely agree with Mark's review, this is definitely a film where less is far more. So little is said, but so much is communicated. Still feeling a bit teary about it.
I experienced exactly such a friendship as a boy child myself many many years ago in a boys school. It remains a bittersweet memory tinged with pain to this day.
Agree almost entirely with the review. The score was superb, the cinematography had so much life to it. My only criticism was that the midway revelation seemed to happen too early into the film for me, and made the latter half feel a tad like there was nowhere else for the film to go. I still loved it though.
It is interesting that there are many people expecting the event to be the second turning point of the movie. But even though it feels like the biggest event happening, it isn't. The process of grieving is just a seamless continuation of the Leo's attempts to distance himself from Rémi. It needs this time, even though the drama becomes a lot more internal than the interaction between the two boys.
Thank you. I found the film both compelling and utterly heartbreaking to watch. A sophisticated and multi layered piece, expertly using a range of filmic techniques to enhance powerful feelings. And yes: less is definitely more here.
Just saw this today at Vue. I loved it. I was repeatedly in tears with it. My feeling were very much like yours Mark. And great that my local Vue has it on. But then my Vue always have something decent on aside from the mainstream fodder. Tomorrow going to see Buck and the Preacher and Wed EO.
A mi me paso algo parecido, con la diferencia que mi mejor amigo sigue vivo y hasta el día de hoy no nos hablamos. Aunque se haya ido, viví su ausencia como si en verdad hubiera fallecido y sigo pensando que será de su existencia ahora. Sigo guardando luto en su cumpleaños, ya van siete años que no se nada de su persona y se que no le importa tanto lo que a mi me pase en estos momentos. Así que he tenido que aprender a vivir de nuevo y ha sido difícil, no lo niego, pero bien. Ahora estoy en otra etapa de mi vida intentando superar ciertas cosas y espero algún día se decida, aunque este en mi lecho de muerte.
I don't use this terminology lightly, but this movie destroyed me!!! It was obne of the most beautiful and most devastating films I ever got to experience.
Ein emotionaler Film, bei dem ich ein paar mal weinen musste und mich auch ein paar Tage beschäftigt hat! Niemand hat das Recht, weil man vielleicht nicht in ihre Welt passt, eine so enge Freundschaft zu zerstören!! So eine besondere Verbindung kann es auch zwischen Jungen und nicht nur bei Mädchen geben!! Leider wird das, obwohl man meint das die Kinder oder auch Erwachsenen heute aufgeklärter sind, immer noch falsch gedeutet. Musste diese Erfahrung auch selbst machen. Unsere Freundschaft ist seitdem nicht mehr so wie früher Der Film wurde auf jeden Fall sehr weltnah und von zwei tollen talentierten Jungen verkörpert!
Managed to see this last night - started promisingly as we explore young male relationship dynamics - something very rarely so openly portrayed on screen - and then for some reason the director decided to end that part of the story and make it a film about mourning - beautifully done but to start with something so unexplored and to end with something so familiar was disappointing. I had the painful realisation midway through that I knew what was coming next and was watching a film reach quite a TV movie-esque predictable conclusion - the total opposite of how I felt at the beginning. I think cinema is at its best when it explores new territory - but saying that, revisiting known territory but in a new historical context is also interesting. The way these kids explore emotions is profoundly moving. Definitely one of the most beautifully shot films of the last 5 years - the luminosity of the colours, the greens, pinks, red flowers, the golden skin, were incredible.
But which TV movie explored grief so thoroughly that it is a trope now? I can hardly think of a movie which would follow this side of the interaction or where the movie is mainly about the aftermath.
I get that grief is a huge concept explored in this but it still felt like a coming of age story overall, albeit a really really painful one. Honestly if the film didn't do this story flip early on, I think it would have fallen onto the tired tropes of coming of age films.
I'm sure I won't be able to see this film here in the United States. They'll make a big deal about it while being very selective about where it can be screened. Then it will dissappear into obscurity just like the film Danseur did. That's just messed up. 😕
I think that midpoint catastrophe was garish, and gave Dhont an easy way to squeeze tear ducts for ugly-cry melodrama. How much more challenging for the filmmakers--and ultimately, how much more fulfilling for the audience--if they had instead decided to employ observation, and nuance, and insight in telling the story of a friendship fading into a distant memory. After all, much, much more of us lose friendships without going through that soap-operatic plot turn.
The 'bury your gays trope' is too ingrained -- Directors like Dhont don't know how to deal with a potentially gay character except to kill him off. As a movie-goer, I have been hit too often by the "shocking surprise" of the gay or gay-coded character getting killed off ... just so the straight characters can learn a valuable lesson. (what's the lesson for us gay folks? Die faster?) We need to stop acting like it's ever a surprise. It's a tired old cliché that needs to be called out for the homophobic BS that it is.
@@otsoko66 I'm not attuned to gauging who might be gay in movies, but I got nothing from Remi that he was gay. He was open, he was pre-pubescent, he was angelic, he was gentle. Those traits don't make him gay.
I thought the acting was very good. I found it a very depressing story. It reminds us that sexuality is a very dangerous subject. We do not know if the boys were a "gay couple" or close friends but even the question paved the way to a suicide. It makes me feel most inadequate.
The film team did an excellent job. Each scene is carefully crafted. It frustrates me, however, that the close bond of friendship between Léo and Rémi can only be experienced in the first third of the movie. Both actors were talented, likeable and still childlike. What a waste! The filmmaker loses the thread of his movie so completely.
Director Dhont has found two incredible leads in Eden Dambrine and Gustav De Waele. But for two-thirds of the screen time, we only see one of the two. What a waste of talent! If one of them had done something terrible, which would not have been successful and would have been understood by both families (Léo's family and Rémi's family) as a cry for help, the friendship could have been rekindled. How can a tender friendship hold its own in a critical environment (secondary school)? Eden Dambrine is a ballet dancer in real life. That would have given beautiful moments in the film. There is a recent interview with actor Gustav De Waele. Search term: bruzz Gustav De Waele I used a machine translation to read this interview (with Gustav de Waele) in Flemish.
It took me a week to recover from this film. It was emotionally draining. Amazing piece of art.
This is my favourite among the Oscar nominees for Best international film. The main kid never acted before, yet he gave one of the most powerful and challenging performances I've seen recently. THAT scene halfway through the movie broke my heart, and the ending was beautiful and cathartic. Lukas Dhont's directing style reminds me a lot of Celine Sciamma, both directors capture kids' behaviour in a realistic and compassionate way.
mine too, it's fantastic
Remembering the scene with Leo in the arm cast. I was a mess. It said so much about how no one would judge a male for crying from physical pain, or anyone for screaming on a roller coaster. That moment was just beautifully telegraphed.
For a film w/ little dialogue, there is much to be said!
Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but maybe you could see the character of Remi as an manifestation of childhood itself. As a kid you try to rid yourself of your childhood as fast as possible and reach adulthood, but damn do you long for it when you finally do get there.
i love this interpretation
Great take, I love this
Great take! I loved it!
Wonderful take.
Some people have said that Remi could also represent LGBT+ kids, and the toll that heteronormative and gender roles take on you. In my experience as a little gay boy in a very macho society, childhood and adolescence were awful times; adults (and their kids) made my life quite miserable. It's a bit sad but I do not look back at it with longing feelings...
@RcsN505 This movie definitely resonates differently with the gay community. I think we see it through an entirely different lens. Your interpretation is what I took from the film. The movie broke my heart.
Completely agree with Mark's review, this is definitely a film where less is far more. So little is said, but so much is communicated. Still feeling a bit teary about it.
I was so captured by this film, I didn’t even realise how little talking there was until I saw the comments, so simple yet powerful
Perfect example of a movie critic that loves cinema and another proof that Mark is the best at his craft.
I experienced exactly such a friendship as a boy child myself many many years ago in a boys school. It remains a bittersweet memory tinged with pain to this day.
Listening to you talking about the film made me cry again.
This film is heartbreaking and gorgeous.
Beautifully understated poignancy is by far my favourite genre. Genius when it is done well, as it is here. Such a beautiful film.
I have never felt so gutted by a film, i cant even begin to explain what it means to me
Agree almost entirely with the review. The score was superb, the cinematography had so much life to it. My only criticism was that the midway revelation seemed to happen too early into the film for me, and made the latter half feel a tad like there was nowhere else for the film to go. I still loved it though.
It is interesting that there are many people expecting the event to be the second turning point of the movie. But even though it feels like the biggest event happening, it isn't. The process of grieving is just a seamless continuation of the Leo's attempts to distance himself from Rémi. It needs this time, even though the drama becomes a lot more internal than the interaction between the two boys.
Thank you.
I found the film both compelling and utterly heartbreaking to watch.
A sophisticated and multi layered piece, expertly using a range of filmic techniques to enhance powerful feelings.
And yes: less is definitely more here.
Utterly heartbreaking film, beautifully made.
Just saw this today at Vue. I loved it. I was repeatedly in tears with it. My feeling were very much like yours Mark. And great that my local Vue has it on. But then my Vue always have something decent on aside from the mainstream fodder. Tomorrow going to see Buck and the Preacher and Wed EO.
I ugly cried hard like 4 times. It's so good and sad.
Absolutely breathtaking film - devastating
A mi me paso algo parecido, con la diferencia que mi mejor amigo sigue vivo y hasta el día de hoy no nos hablamos. Aunque se haya ido, viví su ausencia como si en verdad hubiera fallecido y sigo pensando que será de su existencia ahora. Sigo guardando luto en su cumpleaños, ya van siete años que no se nada de su persona y se que no le importa tanto lo que a mi me pase en estos momentos. Así que he tenido que aprender a vivir de nuevo y ha sido difícil, no lo niego, pero bien. Ahora estoy en otra etapa de mi vida intentando superar ciertas cosas y espero algún día se decida, aunque este en mi lecho de muerte.
I don't use this terminology lightly, but this movie destroyed me!!! It was obne of the most beautiful and most devastating films I ever got to experience.
Makes me think of “so long, see you tomorrow” by William maxwell.
yes, I had the same thought
Ein emotionaler Film, bei dem ich ein paar mal weinen musste und mich auch ein paar Tage beschäftigt hat! Niemand hat das Recht, weil man vielleicht nicht in ihre Welt passt, eine so enge Freundschaft zu zerstören!! So eine besondere Verbindung kann es auch zwischen Jungen und nicht nur bei Mädchen geben!! Leider wird das, obwohl man meint das die Kinder oder auch Erwachsenen heute aufgeklärter sind, immer noch falsch gedeutet. Musste diese Erfahrung auch selbst machen. Unsere
Freundschaft ist seitdem nicht mehr so wie früher Der Film wurde auf jeden Fall sehr weltnah und von zwei tollen talentierten Jungen verkörpert!
Loved this film. Though I think it should be banned. I was crying, devastated, throughout it. Not done that, in this way, for years. It blew my mind.
You think it should be banned?
Managed to see this last night - started promisingly as we explore young male relationship dynamics - something very rarely so openly portrayed on screen - and then for some reason the director decided to end that part of the story and make it a film about mourning - beautifully done but to start with something so unexplored and to end with something so familiar was disappointing. I had the painful realisation midway through that I knew what was coming next and was watching a film reach quite a TV movie-esque predictable conclusion - the total opposite of how I felt at the beginning. I think cinema is at its best when it explores new territory - but saying that, revisiting known territory but in a new historical context is also interesting. The way these kids explore emotions is profoundly moving. Definitely one of the most beautifully shot films of the last 5 years - the luminosity of the colours, the greens, pinks, red flowers, the golden skin, were incredible.
But which TV movie explored grief so thoroughly that it is a trope now? I can hardly think of a movie which would follow this side of the interaction or where the movie is mainly about the aftermath.
@@Schmidtelpunkt yep solid point
I get that grief is a huge concept explored in this but it still felt like a coming of age story overall, albeit a really really painful one. Honestly if the film didn't do this story flip early on, I think it would have fallen onto the tired tropes of coming of age films.
I'm sure I won't be able to see this film here in the United States. They'll make a big deal about it while being very selective about where it can be screened. Then it will dissappear into obscurity just like the film Danseur did. That's just messed up. 😕
I do believe it's on Netflix now.
@@radiohobbyist13 As of Jan 2025, both Amazon Prime and Paramount+ are streaming it.
I think that midpoint catastrophe was garish, and gave Dhont an easy way to squeeze tear ducts for ugly-cry melodrama. How much more challenging for the filmmakers--and ultimately, how much more fulfilling for the audience--if they had instead decided to employ observation, and nuance, and insight in telling the story of a friendship fading into a distant memory. After all, much, much more of us lose friendships without going through that soap-operatic plot turn.
THANK YOU!
100%
The 'bury your gays trope' is too ingrained -- Directors like Dhont don't know how to deal with a potentially gay character except to kill him off. As a movie-goer, I have been hit too often by the "shocking surprise" of the gay or gay-coded character getting killed off ... just so the straight characters can learn a valuable lesson. (what's the lesson for us gay folks? Die faster?) We need to stop acting like it's ever a surprise. It's a tired old cliché that needs to be called out for the homophobic BS that it is.
@@otsoko66 I'm not attuned to gauging who might be gay in movies, but I got nothing from Remi that he was gay. He was open, he was pre-pubescent, he was angelic, he was gentle. Those traits don't make him gay.
I loved this movie so much. That was my chilhood. I don't like when people talk about making a different movie. This Is It. Like It or leave It.
I thought the acting was very good. I found it a very depressing story. It reminds us that sexuality is a very dangerous subject. We do not know if the boys were a "gay couple" or close friends but even the question paved the way to a suicide. It makes me feel most inadequate.
Destroyed me.
The film team did an excellent job. Each scene is carefully crafted.
It frustrates me, however, that the close bond of friendship between Léo and Rémi can only be experienced in the first third of the movie.
Both actors were talented, likeable and still childlike. What a waste!
The filmmaker loses the thread of his movie so completely.
Director Dhont has found two incredible leads in Eden Dambrine and Gustav De Waele.
But for two-thirds of the screen time, we only see one of the two. What a waste of talent!
If one of them had done something terrible, which would not have been successful and would have been understood by both families (Léo's family and Rémi's family) as a cry for help, the friendship could have been rekindled.
How can a tender friendship hold its own in a critical environment (secondary school)?
Eden Dambrine is a ballet dancer in real life. That would have given beautiful moments in the film.
There is a recent interview with actor Gustav De Waele. Search term: bruzz Gustav De Waele
I used a machine translation to read this interview (with Gustav de Waele) in Flemish.