Close · reception & legacy
2022 · Lukas Dhont
How Close has been received, argued over, and remembered.
The arc
Premiered at Cannes 2022 to a rapturous reception and a share of the Grand Prix, then rode the awards wave to an Oscar nomination for Best International Feature — and since then it's settled into a second life as one of Letterboxd's designated devastation machines, the film people dare each other to watch without crying.
What's debated
The recurring fight is whether Close is a tender, honest portrait of boyhood intimacy or an emotionally manipulative tearjerker that weaponises tragedy — 'devastating masterpiece' vs 'trauma porn' is the fault line in nearly every comment section.
Its footprint
It circulates culturally as a warning label as much as a film — 'do not watch Close on a plane' energy — with the image of the two boys sprinting through the flower fields becoming its endlessly shared visual shorthand.
Where it stands
A modern Letterboxd cry-canon staple: firmly on the 'films that emotionally wrecked me' lists, and the film that cemented Lukas Dhont as a name arthouse audiences track.