14/43
But Julie chooses to keep quiet
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. Belgium’s official submission for the “Best International Feature Film” category at the 97th Academy Awards in 2025. I saw it at the Ghent 2024 film festival.
The latter is my problem with this film
Many scenes show tennis training and the like, but not to the point of being annoying, even for someone (like me) who doesn’t play any sports. The issues shown are contemporary and we see many similar cases on TV and in the newspapers, ranging from rumors to openly alleged to legally proven. What we clearly see here is that we never know what exactly happened, how far it went and how long it lasted, mainly due to privacy issues for both the accused and the victims. When the credits rolled, I still didn’t know what the real problem was.
So is this a case of sexual harassment??
The word “stop” is used quite often by Jeremy (the accused coach), repeatedly emphasizing that he stopped as soon as Julie said she wanted him to stop. It is remarkable that Julie reacted strongly when she learned that Jeremy had been given a coaching position at a different location (we recognize this “movement” tactic within the church and in sexual abuse cases). She even asked her newly appointed coach if he would be willing to continue working with her if Jeremy was reinstated in his old job. Another unresolved issue is why Julie remained silent and refused to attend the discussion sessions organized by officials, who are obligated to do “something”.
I can only imagine what her thoughts were
Did she not want to reveal her reasons for remaining silent and staying out of the pending investigation?? Or is it a mixture of guilt for being late in asking Jeremy to stop?? (Maybe I missed something and it was obvious to everyone else watching the same movie.) Overall, interesting for tennis fans and others alike who are interested in the main “me too” theme of this movie. The interspersed tennis practice scenes are not dominant, nor do they distract from the main issues.
The other young actors involved also did a good job
We see Julie in many scenes and in many moods, managing to keep us fascinated by the story’s developments throughout.