Writer-director Anthony Schatteman’s assured debut boasts a standout lead performance from Lou Goossens as a 14-year-old boy struggling with self-discovery.
— in its rural Belgian town setting and its focus on two early teenage boys navigating the tricky boundaries between friendship and romance. But closer acquaintance reveals Flemish filmmaker Anthony Schatteman’s first feature to be something more in line with, entirely without the tragic dimensions of Dhont’s Oscar-nominated drama.
Stopping by the river while biking home from school, the two boys have a conversation about love. Elias confesses that while he and Valerie are supposedly together, he’s unclear about what love should feel like, while Alexander casually reveals he was in love with a boy last year. The change that spreads across Goossens’ expressive face as he contemplates his new friend with a mixture of curiosity and surprise is the quiet prelude to a whole wave of unfamiliar feelings as their bond deepens.
While Elias doesn’t pull away from the kiss, he’s mildly freaked out by it, sparking a change into more withdrawn behavior that his perceptive mother picks up on immediately. He starts keeping his distance from Alexander even if his longings are clear. A day trip to Brussels, where they visit Alexander’s aunt and uncle at their club helps Elias loosen up a little; he even seems pleased to be introduced as Alexander’s “petit copain.
Things clearly are destined not to go Valerie’s way, but to the script’s credit, it never compromises the character’s dignity, communicating her gradual acceptance of her boyfriend’s true nature with fond glances rather than words.
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