46/31
Julie is a star player at an elite tennis academy. When her coach is investigated and suddenly suspended, all the players at the club are encouraged to speak out. But Julie decides to keep quiet. Belgium’s official submission for the “Best International Feature Film” category at the 97th Academy Awards in 2025. I saw it at the Ghent Film Festival 2024. Many scenes show tennis training and related things, but not to the point of being annoying, not even for someone (like me) who doesn’t play sports, any sports at all. The issues depicted are contemporary, and we see many similar cases on TV and in the newspapers, ranging from rumors to open allegations to legal evidence. What we also see clearly here is that we never know exactly what happened, to what extent it happened and how long it lasted, mainly due to privacy concerns for the accused and the victims. The latter is my problem with this film. By the time the end credits rolled, I still didn’t know what the real problem was. The word “stop” is used very frequently by Jeremy (the accused coach), repeatedly emphasizing that he stopped as soon as Julie said she wanted him to stop. Is this therefore a case of sexual harassment? Notably, Julie reacted strongly when she learned that Jeremy had taken a coaching position at a different location (we recognize this “change” tactic within the church and sexual abuse cases). She also asked her newly appointed coach if he was prepared to continue working with her in the event that Jeremy was reinstated in his old job. Another unresolved issue is why Julie remained silent and refused to participate in the talk sessions arranged by authorities who are required to do “something”. Did she not want to reveal her reasons for staying silent and staying out of the pending investigation? Or is it a mixture of guilt for having delayed asking Jeremy to stop? I can only imagine what her considerations were. (Maybe I missed something and it was clear to everyone else watching the same movie.) Overall, interesting for tennis lovers and equally for others who are interested in the film’s main theme of “me too.” The interspersed tennis training scenes are not overbearing, nor do they distract from the main issues. We see Julie in many scenes and in many states of mind, while still managing to keep us fascinated with the developments of the story throughout the running time. The other young actors involved also did a good job.
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