Close
Close
The intense friendship between two thirteen-year old boys Leo and Remi suddenly gets disrupted. Struggling to understand what has happened, Léo approaches Sophie, Rémi's mother. "Close" is a film about friendship and responsibility.
Kevin Ward reviewedJuly 3, 2025
Man, another quietly devastating film. Lots 🔪🧅 during this Oscar season. The first half (maybe even 2/3) of this was perfectly executed.  The nature of Leo and the Remi’s relationship is laid out brilliantly. Loved the use of the color motif, red for Remi and white for Leo. When running through the fields we often see the white flowers in the foreground with red flowers in the background, mirroring the positions of the characters. And when the turning point in the narrative comes we see the red flowers being reaped from the fields and the backdrop is replaced with the snow covered fields and the ivory white skating rink. Really beautifully executed film-making. Really the only thing holding this back from a high score from me is that I felt like we delayed the inevitable encounter a bit too long. And when that moment hits it didn’t quite have the emotional heaviness that it felt like the moment deserved. That’s not to say that it didn’t have an impact. Eden Dambrine and Émilie Dequenne both give incredible performances throughout. After that impeccable first half, I was expecting to be emotionally gutted by the end, but I think I came up just short of that mark. Wonderful film though.