Can two men be close friends without being gay? “Close”, the Oscar nominee that redefines male friendship

Léo and Rémi are 13 years old and are best friends. They spend time together, talk about their problems, know how to share silences, show affection and closeness. Theirs is a particularly intimate and sensitive relationship, until a group of schoolmates ask them a question that will break their bond: “Are you a couple?”, they ask them with something innocent but also cruel. And they won’t know how to respond. They will deny such a presumption, and at the same time they will question the way in which they have carried out their friendship.

“Close”, the most recent film by Belgian filmmaker Lukas Dhont, nominated for Oscars 2023 for Best International Film is a delicate piece about puberty, its stereotypes and its fears, which confronts us about how we understand and unfairly judge male affections. “I think that as a society, and I include myself in this, we are very conditioned regarding intimacy between two men, as if it were something exotic. It seems that the only way masculinity can be intimate is sexually, and in no other way. In that sense, women have done a better job of being able to be with each other.”, says the director in conversation with El Comercio.

“It gives the impression that the only way masculinity can be intimate is sexually, and in no other way,”

Lukes Dhont, belgian filmmaker

Dhont’s film –which won the Grand Prix at the last Cannes Film Festival and is nominated for an Oscar for Best International Film– is admirable for the subtlety of its dramatic journey, from youthful tenderness to the unexpected consequences that the distance between the two will imply. protagonists. In fact, the filmmaker had already shown his empathy to address these issues in his previous film, “Girl” (2018), which portrayed a transgender teenager in her desire to succeed in ballet and fit into society.

“Close” and “Girl” share more than one point in common. If in one the protagonist enters a ballet school, in the other Léo tries to escape her stress by joining an ice hockey team. And, indeed, the director describes both films as a kind of diptych. “The scripts for both films opened with a scene that was never filmed: a flock of black birds flying across the sky. A beautiful and horrendous image, which conveyed something that both films have: the moment when you feel attracted to a group, but at the same time you want to disappear into it. Trying to be that bird that follows other birds, becoming a collective to stop being an individual personDhont explains.

What was it like working with teenage actors?

Regarding the fact of working with such young actors, the Belgian creator affirms that it was much easier than he could imagine. “These 13-year-old boys are incredibly smart and very connected to their feelings. When they first read the script, we had a very open conversation, and there were certain things to discuss and explain. But they themselves added many layers to the film, they became co-authors. Sometimes I think it’s easier to work with actors of that age than with adults“, Explain.

“They themselves added many layers to the film, they became co-writers”

And although much of what is narrated in close part from Dhont’s own experience –”I am a bit of all my characters, and none at the same time”, he says -, for him the important thing is to address issues that are sometimes not fully discussed. “It is a film that I did not write for myself, but because I think it is important to talk about it.”, he concludes.