Close
I’ve been watching clips of this movie on various websites. It’s a stunning exploration of how deep friendship can be between boys, and the ways homophobic social pressure shatters lives. Leo and Remi are in love. It’s never made clear if either of them are actually gay, although I’m told it’s strongly suggested that Remi is and was to a degree self aware. But straight guys fall in love with other guys too in a deeply felt soul brother kind of way, and these two are very young. For a time they grow up in a place where closeness between boys was simply accepted as a part of growing up. That changes when the two move into a new school year.
Their closeness attracts the attention, and static, of classmates, which Leo cannot handle. He withdraws from Remi and it tears them both up with tragic consequences. I’ve seen it said on some forums that Leo capitulated to the homophobia of his classmates, and I think that’s completely unfair. These are kids. If you’ve never felt that pressure…and it comes at you from all directions, that contempt and loathing…consider yourself lucky. It’s too much for a lot of grown adults. It’s way too much for someone that age.
I’m not sure I’m going to watch this when it becomes available because it might be too much for me, even at my ancient age, or especially given what happened to me throughout my own life. I grew up in a period of time and a part of American culture when boys were expected to form close bonds and have a best friend. I had my best friends. We had sleepovers. We were close. What happened in my case was mom had to move several times so she could be close to the bus lines that got her to work. The separations tore me apart. It wasn’t until later in my teenage years that I began to realize it might have been different for me than it was with my friends. Maybe. I’ll never know for sure.
But back then the homophobic static wasn’t there nearly to the degree it is now, because nobody talked about That in front of kids. I didn’t start feeling it until middle school and by then I was keeping an emotional distance from the world around me. I had the additional burden/advantage of growing up around family that absolutely despised my dad and his side of the family, and would take it out on me because I was his son. So I grew up knowing that there would be people in my life who would hate me for something I couldn’t help being. I got use to it, which helped when my sexual orientation became undeniable.
The point is I know how all this feels and how it would have felt to the characters in this movie and I’m not sure I want to relive it again, especially given what happens.
That said, I’m glad that stories like this are finally being told. They need to be told. It’s a crime against humanity to attack closeness between friends, treat it with contempt, gay or straight. This movie is amazing, the young actors in it are pitch perfect in their roles. There is another one along the same themes, but which deals more specifically about gay love and romance, called “Young Hearts” that I’ll probably watch because so I’m told it has a more uplifting ending.
Both of these were made overseas. Close (2022) is a co-production between Belgium, France and the Netherlands. Young Hearts (2024) is a Belgian-Dutch co-production. Of course you knew neither one of these could have been made here in the land of the free and the home of the brave.
