Ketelhuis Expat
On the Belgian front in WWI, Pierre tries to hold his own among the other men. Behind the lines, he meets the charismatic Francis, who together with a group of unfit soldiers, puts on improvised theatrical performances to keep the troops’ morale high. Amidst muddy trenches, where vulnerability seems to have no place, Francis opens up an unexpected space of imagination, freedom, and tenderness for Pierre. Behind the scenes, the men find each other more and more often, and their shared moments gain ever deeper meaning. Something emerges that the war cannot seem to destroy: moments of freedom and an unexpected love.
Coward is a moving and powerful war and romantic drama about courage and fear, masculinity and the power of art, desire and connection. The film by acclaimed director Lukas Dhont (Girl, Close) had its world premiere in the main competition at Cannes, where lead actors Emmanuel Macchia (Pierre) and Valentin Campagne (Francis) jointly received the Best Actor award. For Macchia, this was his feature film debut; Dhont cast him at a landscape architecture school. Coward is the official Belgian entry for the 2027 Academy Awards. Lukas Dhont was inspired by historical WWI photographs of young soldiers putting on shows for one another just behind the front lines, often dressed in women’s clothing.
