Final Rating: 3.5/5
Leonardo Van Dijl’s film Julie Keeps Quiet is a slice-of-life with something darker bubbling just below the surface. It’s an unconventional story of abuse, exploring how abuse is often anything but conventional.
The film starts just after high-school tennis coach Jeremy (Laurent Caron) has been suspended indefinitely. The town is reeling from the suicide of Aline, one of the club’s breakout players, and Jeremy, having been close with Aline, has been accused of abuse by Aline’s parents. The accusations leveled against Jeremy send shockwaves through the club, prompting concern around other players Jeremy was close to, in particular the club’s other star athlete, Julie (Tessa Van den Broeck). If anyone could confirm or deny the stories about Jeremy, it would be her, but Julie isn’t interested in talking. Instead, she chooses to keep quiet.
The most interesting decision Van Dijl makes with Keeps Quiet is to respect Julie’s decision. Rather than probing the details of Aline or Julie’s abuse, the film follows Julie as she gets used to a life without her main trainer. Much of the film follows Julie through her day-to-day life, following Julie to German and Science classes or showing her tennis practice routines. By spending so much time with her, the film illuminates how Jeremy affected every aspect of Julie’s life, and how much effort it takes for her to rewire her brain in his absence.
The film starts with an extended shot of Julie practicing alone. Only minutes later, she’s ditching her friends to practice alone again. By the half-hour mark, she’s being lectured by the guidance counselor that if she doesn’t start paying attention to her schoolwork, all that practice alone will be for nothing.
Despite Julie spending so much time on her tennis, she closes herself off from any real opportunities. She repeatedly refuses to compete with her club and turns down offers from new trainers. Julie recognizes in herself a great tennis player, but more than that she recognizes someone that Jeremy saw as a great tennis player.
Keeps Quiet is slow and subtle. Van Dijl lets shots breathe, immersing the audience in Julie’s perspective. Early on, Julie’s insistence on specific methods of training, and commitment to ignoring anything not tennis-related seems like the kind of single-minded ambition often lauded in sports films. It’s only over time that it becomes clear how Julie is self-destructing, a slave to a trajectory Jeremy set her on.
Jeremy himself is felt more than seen. Caron is on screen in the role for less than ten minutes in the entire movie, but his presence permeates everything. Julie doesn’t need to say anything to make it clear how much he meant to her. The film’s portrayal of abuse is closer to a portrayal of grief: nebulous, hard to put into words, but ever-present.
Julie Keeps Quiet was seen during the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival.
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