Close Q&A with Lukas Dhont

[@RobertMaleschusky]

Little does Lukas Dhont realize, alot of people have reconciled years of pain, including myself as a result of watching this film. I, as a 13 year old also many years ago, had an extremely close and affectionate friendship with a boy a year younger than I. It was platonic but nevertheless as close as you could get and we were basking in the joy of each others company, and inseparable. But we never got past that cusp of where, as Dhont explained, that society might have started placing labels on us. My friend tragically died, right at the height of our love for each other. And decades later I still haven't fully healed. But watching this film opened a flood of memories and tears that I had suppresed for so long. I was finally able make much-needed progress in grieving for my young friend even though I was a wreck for at least a decade after he died. Regret for only telling him once, on his deathbed that I loved him and needed him. I fell into self-loathing, alcohol abuse, the inability to form new friendships with either a male or female until the start of my 30's for fear of losing another friend. The fact that there wasnt a dry eye in the house at Cannes, even with Eden Dambrine's own father, was telling and a testament to the fact that this film resonated with alot of people who must've had similar experiences when they were children, whether they want to admit it or not. Close was a profoundly heartbreaking and sad piece to watch, with no happy ending. And in a way, I'm glad that Lukas brought out the subject of child suicide and mental suffering in the character of Remi and Leo's grieving process in the aftermath because i suspect that many suicides at the age of these boys in the film were actually due to sudden and absolutely unnecessary changes in a childhood male friendship that went horribly wrong. And it just doesn't need to happen like this if we as a society could drop this insanely damaging attitude we have toward male friendships. He opened a Pandora's box with this incredibly sensitive and touching film and I felt that if it had been any other director doing this, they couldn't have pulled off what Dhont accomplished and if I could just see him one time I would collapse and tell him that it was this film that finally caused me to begin the real healing that I'm experiencing now. You never get over the loss of someone you are at the zenith of your love for that person. And even though it was misguided words that tore apart these boy's lives, it was unexpected death in my case, in hindsight I think I would've preferred the death of my friend that ended it because unlike these boys in the film who never got to say goodbye, I was barely able to with my friend and actually did get to say I love you that one time before he passed.

[@carlbuhring9806]

Damn you broke my heart once again, i dont know how, but i think the movie actually is Like everyone is able to connect with it... I personally felt connected to Remis and Leo. Earlier rather Like to Remis, because i was a bit younger than my friends in that time, a few mobthes, but i think i was Like Remis the part of the friendship that got to be left in some kind, i dont know how really to describe it, but i felt deeply connected, with the fact of getting softly pushed away and dont understand why and Not beening able to do sth to stop that... after we got to different schools (in 5th Grade in Germany you get to new school) my friendships finally broke and i felt very alone that time, somehow i wasnt able to connect to others with real trust, i wasnt able to build a deep Connection again somehow... Today after seeing the movie i think a lot about that time, i think i was some kind of in a Depression or sth because i retiered and was very much alone and sad in that time. Because i found no real new connections my schooltime was a bit like the second part of the film, Like with a Filter on and stunned... Until 9/10th grade, i turned 15 (5th Grade i turned 10) and somehow changed a Lot, i started making new and many friends but Not real friendships with that innocene described in the movie... I actually am still mourning the ease and Joy of my childhood before that, probably because of the period after my broken friendships i realised because of CLOSE... But in that time 7/8/9th grade i was also a bit like Leo, the picture society and Others in school etc had of me was so pressing i started seeing some of my friends differently and distanced myself to them a bit like Leo, why i really feel connected to both, iam just Happy that in my Case there was never such a Drama in the end....

[@RobertMaleschusky]

@@carlbuhring9806 Absolutely! For years I avoided thinking about my friend. I just couldn't do it. I'd travel past places where we used to roam and play and enjoy each other's company but it got to the point where I avoided all these places because of the pain that would always come back. Watching Close vindicated me because I knew we had something real and now I don't care what anybody thinks as I'm just now able to talk about the pent up emotion I've hid all of these years. Everyone knew we were close back then but luckily no one said anything to us. Looking back I'm glad it didn't end because of labels. I, who would've been Rèmi at that point couldn't have gone on if it did. But yeah, I was Léo afterwards also: I grieved and I suffered for 10 years. I was useless and didn't finish anything I should have as a teenager and alcohol was my escape. I dearly loved him and when that love is so deep when they're suddenly gone you die mentally. That was me. As you said, loneliness and sadness is all you know after losing a friend(s) that you thought were rock solid. Yes, compared to the world now, I'd love to go back to my childhood because the ease of friendships are so much more joyful, when you really have the capacity to love your male friends in a way that society just won't let you as an adult. Innocent affection from a child towards their friends is a gift that you don't realize was precious until you grow into an adult and in your mind you look for ways to get that back for the rest of your life and for most people it isn't meant to be. No other film I've watched in my storied life has ever affected me as much as this film. It just clicked for me and alot of other people. I said somewhere else recently that this film was an 1:45 minute therapy session and I cried for days. Not only for these boys in the film but for myself obviously. I never thought I could ever get past what happened to me with my friend but there's light at the end of the tunnel now. Incidentally, I saw my friend laying on a hospital gurney in an emergency room after my family and I were called to hurry and get there. He was hit by a car. I saw him with almost every bone in his body broken, in extreme agony. I had a whole 2 minutes to say good bye and that I loved him before they took him to surgery where he died. We had just been having a good time at my house not 3 hours earlier and he had gone home to get a change of clothes and would be right back. It never happened. I so regret to this day of ever letting him go home. I would give anything to go back and change that decision. We were inseparable, with each other almost day and night, even at school or if one or the other of our families went to go do something. We were always together. 😔

[@jason10095]

I can listen to him speak all day.

[@TravisFirestine]

Lukas Dhont is so well spoken and ‘Close’ was easily one of my favorite films of 2022

[@Alex_Plante]

At 14:30 Lukas is using the word "responsibility" in the same sense as the French word "responsibilité", but the French word does not have exactly the same meaning as the English word. For one thing, in French it's a legal term that means the same as the English legal term "liability", so in French, there is a connotation of guilt to the word, that does not exist with the English word. In the context of the movie, he is saying that Léo feels guilty about what Rémy did.

[@fairytale9829]

what an incredible filmmaker and advocat for looking for humanity he is.

[@mensabs]

CLOSE will eventually se recognized as one of the few really great films. No gangbusters, shoot-em-up, animation techno-spectacular stuff. This is from the heart. I have watched the film a number of times. He has touched on something really basic in the lives of males.

[@RobertMaleschusky]

I cannot agree more. Everything about this film struck me in a way that will carry with me for a long time. So, so many memories of my childhood came back after watching this. I too had a great friend that unfortunately was killed when I was 13. We were inseparable also. Many sad memories came back with this film. Director Dhont opened a Pandora's box with this film that I think every man can appreciate.

[@mensabs]

I can says about Lukas himself what is to be said about the film. Beautiful, eloquent, heartfelt, insightful. It was the best film of the year...period, international, national, whatever. This will become clear after the spectacle of the OSCARS entertainment has settled. Cannes saw what this films means. Venice will.

[@demacto13]

I am still in tears from just watching it about an hour ago. As someone who went through suicidal tendencies at an early age of 7,8 or 9, I felt a personal level of connection to this story. I'm 27 now and the feelings that I went through as a kid growing up were very difficult as I had very few people to lean on or trust. I wish I had this film shown to me when I was their age. I am hopeful and grateful that stories like these are being made and shown more nowadays, and thank you to everyone who was a part of this project. I love this film with all my heart.

[@RobertMaleschusky]

I seriously don't think that anyone but Lukas Dhont could have pulled this off with what he was able to do with these characters. He focused purely on telling the story of two young boys with a solid friendship that was absolutely and unnecessarily torn apart, and he didn't try to shove a political or ideological agenda down our throats or make it into a story of romantic love. Simply the purest love and innocence between two boys that as I stated in my own experience above with the loss of a dear childhood friend myself, I was finally able to begin a real healing process after watching this movie. I saw this film last week and I still cry periodically for my friend and cannot stop thinking about how or why I stumbled into this film. But I'm so glad I did even though it was pure hell to watch. I also wish that there had been a depiction like this when I was 13 when my friend died. I was lost then and myself had no one to really talk to for fear of being labeled. And it destroyed me. I've not always had good things to say about our current state of thinking these days, but after watching this film, I feel vindication for the love my friend and I shared and now realize that it absolutely doesn't matter who you love. The purest love comes from the heart, not the loins. And knowing what I know now I would go back and tell my friend every chance I got that he was needed, wanted, cherished and loved. This film caused so, so much heartache, but I am profoundly glad I watched it. This film should be a must-watch for any hardened and bigoted soul. How anyone could not be affected by this film is out of my comprehension now.

[@carlbuhring9806]

​@@RobertMaleschusky thats a very hard story, what happened tonyour friend and between you?

[@mwallem]

Beautifully tender and truthful film. I related to it and loved it. Thank you to all who created this movie.

[@สมหมายหายกี]

There was something left in my chest after walking out the theater and it's still here 🥺😭

[@alifpr]

I am currently so obsessed with the movie, and I think this is the most detailed interview out there. Lukas, thanks for making this film. It really touched me in places I’ve never thought could be touched before.

[@mrbobarr]

SPOILER ALERT Puzzle: (last look at Leo's face at movie’s ending): has he at last felt relief in finally admitting his role in Remi’s suicide to Remi’s mother -- or does he simply accept that he will carry his guilt like a curse for the rest of his life? Or will he vacillate between the two, changing with circum-stances? And to stretch it a bit further, was it Lukas’s intention to plant this puzzle in his audience’s minds, or did he simply leave it up to Eden to create uncertainty?

[@RobertMaleschusky]

Dhont said in subsequent interviews that Dambrine was allowed, like they all were, to improvise their roles and present their own dialog in the scenes. But Eden couldn't have owned his character any better than he did. I don't think any other boy could've done it so beautifully. Yes, in a way it would've been nice to see Gustav's character survive and a reconciliation occur between him and Eden but I see why Lukas didn't map it that way. If the "second" option had panned out, it could've turned their relationship into more than it was and delved into perilous territory that would've taken away from their purely platonic love and adoration for each other which some people might've been off put by. It was only by the grace of God that Eden and Gustav, thanks to Lukas's 6 months long period he afforded them to grow their friendship, had already formed a deep bond before shooting began or otherwise they couldn't have given their characters as much emotional attention while filming. Gustav could've offered much more to this had Rèmi lived but as it stands I don't think anyone would change a thing about how this turned out. Many people, myself included don't like films that lack a feel good ending. But A., this film doesn't feel anything remotely like it's scripted because the characters were so utterly believable and the entire storyline was as plausible as it gets. There isn't a good ending sometimes. B., Far too many people who saw this film were forced to relive, again myself included, a similar instance of tragedy involving a childhood best friend that had a horrible outcome and many, many men were more than appreciative that this film was produced. So tastefully executed in a way that allowed men to be vindicated for what they felt as kids but could never dare speak with anyone about. Thus suffering for years with unresolved pain and guilt because of what society thought they should've felt, which was nothing. Friendships like this are real. The chemistry, choreography and overall feel of this film may never be duplicated again. But that's ok. I'm just glad it served to help a lot of people come to terms with their own experiences at such a terribly dysfunctional time in our world.

[@carlbuhring9806]

​@@RobertMaleschuskyi just agree, if i umderstood your points right, but i conpletly agree, i personally also hit by the film, i dont want it to end Like it ends and it Just breaks my heart, it is brutal to Just see what happenes to that two friends and espacially Remis that really stood Out to me with his innocence kind of beeing Just a child, that Breaks me everytime, but i think it is good to be as it is, cause it just shows authentic how brutal it is and yes it is really suffering for all of us, but Just because of the way they created the story and the hole Thing i can conpletly feel the pain of Leo and Remis Family, it is maybe the only movie that gives you such a empathatic and authentic Connection to it and his characters... I feel like i grief too and that i didnt expect to happen... I also think it is outstanding how cruel they disigned that Setup of the Story, that you slowly see them getting away from each other even more, from a 3rd Person perspectiv or as you would actually be part of the story and arent able to intervent... its cruel to see that your powerless and that is the feeling also Leo has in the Story i think. Thats just Art in my opinion, i just want to give Remis and Leo a hug and say that they still got a Chance to make Things alright again 😢...

[@RobertMaleschusky]

@@carlbuhring9806 Yes I agree. I've debated whether or not adding more to the dialogue or extending the film for more depth to Rèmi and Léo's characters would've been a good idea but then Lukas Dhont risked going into territory that may have turned some people off. As brutal as the film was it drove home the point that losing someone you love tragically leaves untold grief and guilt for everyone who loved that person and so there had to be this agonizing pain in order to recognize when peace begins to slowly take over again. This only happened to me recently but it's been a long, long road to get here. Dhont wanted us to all look at the film as a 3rd-person viewer, as if we were really watching these characters in the throws of real life situations and then grief so we could feel as if we are there experiencing it ourselves with them. This is what made everybody in the film so believable. A very rare and unique film that didn't feel like it was trying to draw tears from you with contrived situations because these emotions the film brought out are emotions we've all had at some point in our childhood and adult lives.

[@carlbuhring9806]

@@RobertMaleschusky Just yes i totally agree and id also like to see more of Remi espacially in the Phase of distance the focus was only on Leo, probably because we should feel espacially his Feelings with guilt and grief, but i Just missed to see what that distance did to Remi... Only the two scenes, where he cryed already got me to tears but after the fight you didnt recogniced anything of Remis Feelings. And yeah there is the point where it gets dificult, because that Part where we just dont know about how Remi feels simbolyes also the distance between both and is realistic If look more threw Leos eyes...

[@RobertMaleschusky]

@@carlbuhring9806I happened to watch it again last night. Wasn't going to try again because the emotions of watching it the first time are still raw. There were very subtle hints that Rèmi wasn't really stable and that if it weren't for Lèo before he started pulling away, devoting his full time to Rèmi, Rèmi wouldn't be able to accept anything less from Lèo. When they were in bed that time and Rèmi said he couldn't turn his brain off. He could've been fearing the day that Léo might start pulling away and knew that he couldn't cope with that. The night at the dinner table when Rèmi started to cry and he glanced at Lèo but Lèo didn't look at him, and this was before anyone else knew something was wrong between them, you could see Rèmi becoming more depressed. At the courtyard when Rèmi confronted Lèo. Could kinda tell he wasn't fighting Lèo because he was angry at him, he was angry that their friendship had changed. It wasn't any easier watching it again but Lukas Dhont said I found later that mental illness played a part with Rèmi. So sad.

[@leonardseven390]

Wow. Thanks for spoiling aftersun lady

[@hampus17]

seriously woman.... stop breathing in to the microphone when you're not talking!!!!

[@DrMattDestruction]

Homeless people are wasting time begging for money when they could be volunteering in the community or creating businesses instead. Let’s change that with the Universal Basic Income. Or by abolishing money. Let’s give everyone over the age of 13 a guaranteed minimum income of $1,500ish USD/month! High

[@nederlanditism1154]

A manipulative movie with dramatic ideas which are complete concoctions, and in that an insufferable watch. It's like Dancer in the Dark, but the really bad version - in regard of playing and misleading viewer's emotions. The suggestion of boys actually being into boys, and when society kicks in, they don't want to be into boys because that would be gay. This cooks up the kind a movie stew he has now done twice, so convinced of himself. Yak.