It is a banner year for Lesbians struggling with cancer diagnoses on the indie movie circleAnd it’s about as fun as it sounds in ”July” – A poetic yet confused first effort from filmmaker Cato coasters.
Drama follows two women on a romantic world trip that turns into a tragedy when one of them suddenly gets sick. Their story is as much about processing grief in internet age as it is terminal illness, and it is a sufficiently nice idea. But the set that takes that relies on an oblique sentimentality that may come too close to Obamacore for some queer people (especially Americans) to appreciate right now.
Based on Fleur Pieret’s devastating memoir from 2023, “Julian” stars Nina Meurisse and Laurence Roothoid as the author and her book’s naming. A Classic lesbian vignette – Two Hotties who lock the eyes of a music place – break out into a passionate business that makes the new couple easy to fall in love with. When the couple is engaged, journalist Fleur comes with a plan to turn their waiting wedding into a global event. She pulls up a spreadsheet to show her future wife, and Fleur explains how they can walk around the world and get married. They will commit themselves forever with each other in the countries where they can, and in the process, comment on the places where they cannot.
Julian is looking for the trip immediately, but Fleur’s editor and some friends take a touch more convincingly. This is a big project and it can be difficult for both of them. The women are still determined to create a life -affirming spectacle of their love, and look at Julian and Fleur married for the first time, the moment is so emotionally that it almost makes the wild exaggerated endeavor seem like it should be a common practice for all lesbians. Who wouldn’t want to say “I do” to their best friend over and over again? Especially when someone Other Want to keep you apart?
As a matter of execution, the turn that controls “Julian” against heart damage is gloomy but smart. Realize that Julian is fighting cancer coming slowly, then seemingly everything at once, and that gives the newlyweds itinerary to a screaming stop. If they can no longer travel, they eventually lean on Julian’s parents for support and the scenes that show that Fleur joins their family is some of the best of the coasts. The director has the ability to hone the subtlest facial expression, and the ideas she gets from her role feel wonderful cooperation. Universal emotions radiate from tear -dashed faces when all four actors exchange a kind of kinetic fear that the loss they are too afraid of may really come.
That part works, but other simple stories about illness have been told more beautiful – and what should distinguish “Julian” in a crowded space slowly undermines what it does well. Lives in suspended denial, Fleur digs into the content plan they had before all this began. Remembering your beloved life is your writing one thing, but using your work as a distraction to avoid reality is another. The depiction is sympathetic and mostly leads to an internal conflict for Fleur that is well captured. But that turmoil gets steadily shiny and ultimately leaves the women in such a dark place that it is difficult to see what coasts – or even the real author, Fleur – wanted to say about performative difficulty.
This is a multilingual film With dialogue that is in English, French and Dutch, maybe something lost in the translation. Nevertheless, “Julian” seems to focus on personal responsibility for modern queer people at a serious turbulent time for LGBT rights in a way that is incorrect and ineffective. The equality of marriage is not the only question that lesbians who are interested in world travel, and God forbids your partner gets cancer, there is more to say about getting into her hospital room than looking at her going down in the hallway.
But Fleur’s story is true and you cannot control the real story where it did not go. Ironically, it suggests that the experience probably should not have been adapted to the big screen at all. Jumping forward in time we see the possible widow, her fate not yet clear, rushes to restore files on a hard drive. It contains pictures of her wife who can’t get out of bed, and for a moment you like almost fleur. Poignant and worth telling once, “Julian” should have been added to rest after the tragedy was first recounted.
Rating: C+
“Julian” premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival 2025. It is currently seeking US distribution.
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