When her coach falls under investigation following the suicide of a former trainee, Julie (Tessa Van den Broeck), a young tennis ace, is thrown into turmoil. In addition to juggling the pressures of school, adjusting to a new coach, and training for the Belgian Tennis Federation’s upcoming trials, she finds herself under acute pressure to speak out. Her reluctance to do so distances her from family and friends, resulting in a solitary struggle that she alone can resolve.
Directed with unerring precision by Belgian filmmaker Leonardo Van Dijl, this is a tense, topical psychological drama where every gesture and movement, every silence and absence, is charged with import. Featuring claustrophobic shallow-focus compositions, darkly lit interiors, and a foreboding soundscape, and anchored by a steely performance from newcomer Van den Broeck, this is a provocative film about the cultures of abuse within the sports world, and the toll it takes on those caught within it.
The movie’s silence is so loaded with the anxiety, obstinance, inchoate anger and desire for anonymity of the traumatized teenage sportswoman that the constant thwack of her racquet hitting the ball cuts through the tension like violent shocks.
David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter
Community Partner
Tessa Van den Broeck, Grace Biot, Alyssa Lorette, Ruth Becquart, Koen De Bouw, Pierre Gervais
Belgium/Sweden
2024
In Dutch and French with English subtitles
At International Village
At Fifth Avenue
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits & Director
Producer
Gilles De Schryver, Gilles Coulier, Wouter Sap, Roxanne Sarkozi
Screenwriter
Leonardo van Dijl, Ruth Becquart
Cinematography
Nicolas Karakatsanis
Editor
Bert Jacobs
Original Music
Caroline Shaw
Art Director
Julien Denis
Leonardo van Dijl
Leonardo van Dijl is a writer and director based in Belgium. His latest short film Stephanie (2020) was selected for the official competition of Cannes, San Sebastian, and TIFF as well as over 150 other film festivals where it received various national and international awards. Leonardo’s feature debut Julie Keeps Quiet, a co-production between De Wereldvrede, Les Films du Fleuve, Hobab, and Film i Väst, had its world premiere in May 2024 at the prestigious Critics’ Week of the Cannes Film Festival.
Photo by Nicolas Karakatsanis
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Antonia's Line
This month's Pantheon selection spotlights the first woman to win the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, the Dutch feminist filmmaker Marleen Gorris, and her charming, vibrant tale of an emancipated farmer who refuses to conform.
Oscars® Party 2026
Experience the Academy Awards in style at the VIFF Centre! Watch the ceremony live on the big screen with a red carpet, a fully licensed bar and live hosts.
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
One of only a handful of live action children's films to capture the imaginations of generations, E.T. has a luminous warmth; it's a suburban symphony of emotion, and it's fascinating to revisit it in the light of The Fabelmans.
Turner & Constable
Filmed as a supplement to a blockbuster exhibition at Tate Britain happening right now, this doc in the popular Exhibition on Screen series allows us to view these competitive, complementary English landscape artists side by side.
The President's Cake
Nine year old Lamia and her friend Saeed venture into the city to scrounge ingredients for a cake to celebrate Sadaam Hussein's birthday — a quest fraught with real peril in precarious times. Winner, Camera d'Or, Cannes.