He hates the phrase 'boys will be boys.' So his Oscar-nominated movie fights back
Filmmaker Lukas Dhont and star Eden Dambrine explain how Belgian Oscar nominee 'Close' finds drama in society's limited definitions of 'masculinity.'
For Dhont, “Close” began with the realization that images of men fighting have long flooded our screens, becoming the only accepted mode of engagement between them. Seeing men holding on to each other with platonic affection remains a much rarer sight.
“At the age of 13, these boys talk about each other in the most loving, tender, beautiful way,” said Dhont. “These are testimonies of love, and they dare to use that word openly.”
But as the young men went through puberty, their responses to Way’s questions drastically changed. With the codes and pressures of masculinity looming ever larger, they came to see emotion as weakness and to fear being perceived as feminine — often at the expense of authentic connections. It’s precisely around this age that the suicide rate for men becomes four times higher than that for women.