Lukas Dhont's 'Coward' Opens December 25 via MUBI

MUBI will release Lukas Dhont's Coward theatrically on December 25, and the first trailer has now arrived. The film world-premiered in competition at this year's Cannes Film Festival, where its two leads, Emmanuel Macchia and Valentin Campagne, jointly won the Best Actor prize. Belgium has since selected it as the country's entry for the Academy Awards.

That is a considerable weight of recognition for a third feature. Dhont previously directed Girl and Close, the latter also a Cannes prize-winner. Coward marks his first love story.

What is the film about?

The synopsis from the distributor lays out the premise. Pierre, played by Macchia, arrives at the front lines as a young soldier eager to find his footing in a world consumed by violence. Everything changes when he meets Francis, played by Campagne, a kindred spirit whose vision of staging a front-line theatre show opens a world Pierre never knew existed.

The official description continues: "What begins as a fleeting escape from the harsh reality of the trenches soon blossoms into a tender, emotional love story, anchored by the undeniable chemistry of breakout actors Emmanuel Macchia and Valentin Campagne. As the world burns around them, their stage becomes a sanctuary of innocence and devotion."

The setting is World War I. The Belgian army in the film serves, notably, on the French side.

What did critics say at Cannes?

Savina Petkova, reviewing the film at Cannes, put the choice of setting in context. "Cinema has taken viewers to the trenches of World War I so often that audiences might as well have formed sensory memories of a throat-clenching terror, the screams drowned by a sudden explosion and ears ringing," she wrote. "It's all artificial, of course, but film's empathy machine is perfectly suited for such participatory experiences from the safety of our seats."

Her review also flagged the film's central tension. "Yet war, like love, has too many faces and facets to ever be extensively represented," Petkova wrote. "Luckily for us, Flemish director Lukas Dhont has chosen exactly that setting for his third feature (after Girl and Close) and first love story."

Why the title?

The word "coward" is not decorative. As Petkova observed, Coward "is one of those provocative titles called into question by everyone but the film's protagonist." She noted: "In the Belgian army (on the French side), Pierre (Emmanuel Macchia) and his mates take pleasure in naming others cowards, be it enemies or deserters, summarizing a hero/weakling binary from the get-go."

What does this change for awards season?

Belgium's Oscar submission now has a firm commercial date: December 25 positions Coward squarely inside the awards corridor, weeks after its Cannes laurels and joint acting prize. Whether a Christmas-day theatrical release converts festival acclaim into Academy attention is the question the next few months will answer.