Lukas Dhont has made two award-winning films about the agony of adolescence: Girl, his 2018 portrait of a transgender ballet dancer; and now Close, which concerns the fragile friendship between two 13-year-old boys. So perhaps it is only natural that the baby-faced director buzzes with youthful energy.
Dhont, 31, wears his heart on his sleeve. And what a sleeve: the arms of his white shirt render handshakes comically complicated. An abbreviated tie runs from burnt crimson at one end to canary yellow at the other, as though it has been dunked in magma. “My mum taught fashion,” he explains. “Somehow I’ve always been close to the
