Julie Keeps Quiet (Julie zwijgt)
Julie is the star player at an elite tennis academy. When her coach falls under investigation and is suddenly suspended, all of the club's players are encouraged to speak up. But Julie decides to keep quiet. Why does she and how long can she sustain it?
Belgian newcomer Leonardo Van Dijl impresses with the miraculously coherent way he handles these mysteries. One thing is immediately clear: this film is about a young woman’s experience and this informs all of the filmmaker’s choices. He has the viewer drawn to Julie as if by osmosis and this link only deepens and intensifies. It's Julie’s repeated movements we look at when she practices, it's the nuances of her body language that we perceive when she does not express her feelings through words. We come to feel her repeated evaluation of the potential consequences of speaking up.
Tessa Van den Broeck is incredible as Julie, both strong and fragile at the same time, determined to make it in professional tennis, while preserving her psychological balance and moral compass.