20/33
Julie is a star player at an elite tennis academy. When her coach comes under investigation and is 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 of the 97th Academy Awards in 2025.. Saw it at the Ghent Film Festival 2024. Many scenes show tennis training and related activities, but not to the point of being annoying, not even for someone (like me) who doesn’t do any sports, no sports at all. The issues presented 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 also see clearly here is that we never get to know exactly what happened, how far it went and how long it lasted, especially because of privacy concerns for the accused as well as the victims. The latter is my problem with this film. . When the end credits rolled, I still didn’t know what the real problem was. The word "stop" is used very often by Jeremy (the accused coach), repeatedly emphasizing that he stopped as soon as Julie said he wanted to stop. Is this a case of sexual harassment? Remarkably, Julie reacted strongly when she found out that Jeremy had been offered a coaching position at another location (we recognize this “moving” 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 case Jeremy was reinstated in his old job. Another unresolved issue is why Julie remained silent and refused to participate in the discussion sessions organized by the officials, who are obliged to do “something”. Did she not want to reveal her reasons for remaining silent and staying out of the ongoing investigation?? Or is it a mixture of guilty feelings that she was late in asking Jeremy to stop? I can only guess what her considerations were. (Maybe I missed something and it was clear to everyone else watching the same movie.) All in all, interesting for tennis lovers and equally for others who are interested in the main “me too” theme of this movie. The tennis practice scenes mixed in are not dominant nor do they distract from the main issues. We see Julie in many scenes and many moods, while managing to keep us fascinated by the developments in the story over time. The other young actors involved did a good job as well.