‘Coward’ Overview: Lukas Dhont’s Third and Most Bold Function Sticks Troopers in a Tortured Queer Love Story Mired in Emotional Fraudulence

Along with his first two options, Girl and Close, Lukas Dhont carved out a status for piercing examinations of the minefield for youngsters and adolescents of sexual and gender id, whether or not internalized or in relation to the surface world. Each movies drew acclaim, but in addition detractors who bristled on the Belgian director’s perceived exploitation of topics as delicate as gender dysphoria, self-harm and suicide for the needs of emotional manipulation. I’ve landed someplace down the center of these two poles, till Coward, which reeks of manneristic affectation and phoniness.

One of many indeniable strengths of Dhont’s movies has been his skillful dealing with of actors, particularly younger display newcomers. That advantage is undermined right here by leads with minimal chemistry, considered one of them inexpressive and the opposite archly theatrical, by design if to not rewarding impact. However what actually sinks Coward is the self-conscious grandiosity with which the director strains for lofty emotional peaks in moments that as an alternative come off as hole and synthetic.

The film opens with a trainload of rookie Belgian troopers heading for the entrance, their eagerness to dive into the fray and show their valor hammered in a full-throated singalong (in French) to “Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit-Bag, and Smile, Smile, Smile.” The emphatic gusto of the troopers’ singing, and the size for which Dhont lets it go on, plant the obscure concept that the director may nearly be aiming for the heightened passions of a musical. 

That impression is furthered when a gaggle of troopers who dub themselves “The Band of Rejects” are launched, placing on gentle leisure in makeshift feminine garb to entertain the boys behind the trenches and sustain morale. Each ditty they carry out is amped up with most vehemence. 

Among the many most notable is a patriotic anthem towards the top, bursting with fiery conviction, with troupe chief Francis (Valentin Campagne) waving a banner like he’s closing Act I of Homosexual Misérables. Full disclosure, lest anybody get the incorrect thought: I’m within the membership and a fan of musicals, nevertheless it obtained to the purpose the place I discovered myself wincing: “Oh no, another f**king song?”

The historical past of troopers entertaining their comrades in cross-dressing efficiency troupes is well-documented, representing its personal type of bravery and combating spirit in macho army environments. One in all Dhont’s key themes is that braveness could be outlined in numerous methods, whether or not it’s crawling by muddy fields close to enemy strains, selecting life at nice private value or making use of make-up and getting frocked up in clothes product of hessian sacks and parachute fabric.

Eighteen and unworldly, Pierre (Emmanuel Macchia) appears to have barely ever left the farm he grew up on earlier than being drafted to serve within the Belgian military. Informed on arrival on the entrance that rookies have to show themselves, Pierre hurls himself into his duties, carrying heavy shells to the trenches and loading corpses from the battlefield onto carts. DP Frank van den Eeden’s digital camera will get in shut on his face — because it does with the lead characters all through the movie — displaying each the trouble and the willpower he places into his duties.

He’s typically quiet and reactive in comparison with a lot of the troopers, who’re stuffed with shouty bragaddocio and raucous japes. However he kinds the beginnings of a bond with a weak chap who just lately grew to become a first-time father, his son born after he shipped out. 

Pierre’s first style of Francis’ insouciant flamboyance comes when the latter is introduced into the mess tent on a stretcher, a sheet overlaying his bulbous faux pregnant stomach. Francis proceeds with an over-the-top childbirth pantomime that culminates within the new dad being egged on to chop the rope umbilical wire. Bellowing guffaws comply with, although the antic is extra insensitive than amusing. 

Whereas he’s tall and bodily sturdy, Pierre appears an uneasy match amid all that effervescent testosterone. He seems to have ethical qualms concerning the troopers gathering round to pee within the buckets of soup being served to a truckload of German prisoners. However he participates anyway, clearly desperate to belong.

In the meantime, the flagrantly femme and brashly assured Francis retains catching his eye and he quickly talks Pierre into serving to construct a stage in a barn, the place Francis and his fellow outsiders intend to placed on reveals for the boys. The attraction between them is subtly steered at first, when Francis and the remainder of the costumed troupe lead a coquettish “ladies’ choice” dance. However even Pierre’s embarrassment can’t conceal what’s behind the extreme eye contact.

And so it goes, slipping forwards and backwards between repetitive trench warfare with plenty of compulsory handheld jittery-cam and tender interludes equivalent to Francis main his refrain ladies with a trembling falsetto on “Plaisir d’Amour,” which seals the deal for besotted Pierre and brings tears to the eyes of troopers within the viewers. (I purchased this even lower than I purchased the central love story.) A primary kiss follows quickly after within the roof above the stage.

When one soldier is shot throughout his second try at desertion, Pierre’s willingness to maintain returning to the road of fireside weakens, and he intentionally injures his hand so he can avoid the combating. He turns into extra concerned with the performers, first in a backstage capability, scattering snow from the roof, and finally becoming a member of them on stage. However reasonably than full drag like the remainder of them, his costumes are extra like variations on a Pierrot theme.

Neither Pierre nor Francis has precise expertise of intercourse, and even once they have the privateness of a bed room whereas touring to carry out at a hospital, the bodily facet of the connection barely goes past kissing. Heated Rivalry, this isn’t.

Dhont works arduous at pumping up the tragic dimensions of a love story pressured to exist in secret, however I discovered this film obstinately unaffecting. Francis desires the warfare by no means to finish so he can maintain on to no matter freedom they’ve discovered collectively, whereas Pierre turns into the romantic, daydreaming about working off to dwell in a cabin within the mountains. Brokeback, perhaps?

Regardless of this being “The Great War,” there seldom appear to be greater than 20 or 30 folks concerned; the dimensions of the manufacturing seems to be cramped. And even with depictions of bloodshed and loss of life, the drama’s conflicts are a bit of tender. 

There’s a whiff of homophobia in a single soldier sneering at Pierre, saying, “Go dance while we die.” And an officer reacts with hostility, calling them a “bunch of degenerates” when his friskiness with Francis throughout a efficiency causes Pierre to intervene. However these and different threats to boost the dramatic temperature are inclined to fizzle out earlier than they go anyplace. Even the semi-open, doubtlessly joyful ending feels prosaic as a result of neither the director nor the actors have satisfied us to take a position a lot in that final result. 

Macchia sticks predominantly to the identical notice of moony adoration whereas Campagne appears to be in a contest with himself as as to if he could make Francis extra annoying in or out of drag. 

There have been transferring, way more textured movies concerning the anxieties and risks of being a homosexual man within the army in recent times, like Oliver Hermanus’ Moffie or Class Bratton’s The Inspection. And WWI serves because the wrenching drive that curtails a resonant queer love story in final yr’s The History of Sound, additionally directed by Hermanus. 

In Coward (BTW, is Dhont ever going to improve to a two-word title?), warfare is generally the backdrop for a mirrored image on braveness that simply sits there, by no means constructing a lot dramatic heft. Every thing concerning the movie is fussy, from the path to the lighting and camerawork to the chiming rating. It’s all so studied and missing in tooth that it lurches into melodrama.