Lukas Dhont‘s World War I drama Coward received a 13-minute ovation Thursday after the lights came up on its world premiere screening at the Cannes Film Festival. It was one of the biggest responses to a film in this year’s competition lineup.
The queer romantic drama is the Belgium-born Dhont’s second feature film in the Cannes competition following 2022’s Close.
Per the logline, Coward centers on Pierre, a soldier newly arrived at the front who is eager to prove himself. Behind the lines, he meets Francis, who decides to lift the spirits of his comrades by putting together a theatre show. While the violence continues, both men try to find ways to escape the brutality of war, even if only for a moment.
Emmanuel Macchia and Valentin Campagne star in the film, which Mubi pre-festival acquired for several international territories including the UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Latin America, Australia, and New Zealand.
Following the crowd’s reception, Dhont told the crowd at the Grand Théâtre Lumière that all should share “love, not war.”
Deadline’s Pete Hammond in his review calls Coward “a classic movie love story for the ages, in this case a queer romance that in cinematic terms feels as universal, and as impossible, as Casablanca, Brief Encounter, and The Way We Were.“
The new pic marks Dhont’s third time in Cannes. He debut pic, Girl, won an award in the festival’s Un Certain Regard section when it bowed there in 2018.
Dhont told Deadline earlier in the festival that the inspiration for Coward came from a photograph.
“It’s based on a black-and-white photograph I found four years ago of a young man right behind the frontlines dressed up in a sandbag skirt performing for the other soldiers,” he said. “And I thought that it was something so modern in that picture, even though it was black and white, but seeing this young man cross-dressed, smiling in front of all these other men really inspired me to create something.
He added, “Bit by bit, while we were writing, one thing that became incredibly important was this idea of heroism and the things that we have described as heroic acts. Young men throughout centuries, and now also young women, are sent to fight, and in a way, I think many have feared the label of cowardice… We named this film Coward because that fear is a topic, but I think also the film questions, what does it actually mean to be brave, not only in relationship to another, but also in relationship to ourselves, in choosing the truest parts of ourselves; in choosing to express ourselves, even when the world around us expects us to behave or to act in a certain way.”
