The film stars Eden Dambrine, Gustav De Waele, Émilie Dequenne and Léa Drucker.

He stops sleeping over, starts riding his bicycle with students other than Rémi, continues participating in ice hockey, and spends more time working with his family at the farm.

The fact that his classmates describe Rémi in obituaries as a happy and friendly boy triggers a defiant opposition in Léo.

Although none of his new friendships comes close to the deep connection he had with Rémi, Léo is able to confide in his older brother Charlie for comfort.

[13] On 20 October 2020, it was announced that the film would be titled Close and that international sales agent The Match Factory had joined the project.

Speaking about the film, Dhont said: "Three years after the overwhelming trip of Girl, it's incredibly good to be back on the set, with this hugely talented cast and crew, especially as this story is close to my heart.

"[16] Close had its world premiere in competition for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival on 26 May 2022,[17] where it earned a 10-minute standing ovation[18][19] and was later awarded the Grand Prix.

It was released by A24 in the United States on 27 January 2023, following a limited one-week theatrical run in New York City and Los Angeles on 2 December 2022.

[22][23] At Cannes, streaming service Mubi acquired distribution rights for the United Kingdom, Ireland, Latin America, Turkey and India.

The website's consensus reads, "So moving for a majority of its runtime that not even a manipulative ending can ruin the experience, Close is a tender and powerfully acted look at childhood innocence lost.

[26] The film impressed critics for Dhont's script and direction, whose cinematic technique, as well as narrative structure, was praised for its ability to deal with the theme of adolescence and coming out.

[29] The critic Peter Bradshaw, reviewing the film for The Guardian, gave it a score of 4/5, writing that the story told is "disturbing" in that however "wised-up teenagers probably are now about the language of relationships and LGBT issues; [...] the end of a friendship is devastating."

He also finds in the relationship of the two protagonists the ability to be "outraged at what amounts to a disloyal capitulation to homophobia" since "none of the adult life experience to explain it away" exists.

The journalist is also pleasantly impressed with the acting, calling De Waele and Dambrine "excellent" and Dequenne and Drucker "valuable appearances.

"[32] For the Italian press, Roberto Nepoti of la Repubblica divides the film's narrative into two moments, the first related to childhood in an "idyllic" atmosphere, while the second, related to adolescence, "veers to the dramatic by showing the evolution" of the protagonists, in which he denotes "the delicacy in dealing with the sensitive subject of sexuality when it is still immature and undefined."