Sometimes you walk into a film not knowing what to expect… and you walk out completely changed. That was my experience with Julian at BFI Flare.
I went in blind and it honestly destroyed me. In the best and most painful way. It made me cry, reflect, and most importantly, reminded me that this isn’t just a story… it’s real. And that reality is what makes Julian so powerful.
Directed by Cato Kusters and executive produced by Lukas Dhont, Julian tells the story of Fleur and Julian, a couple navigating the limitations still placed on queer love and marriage. What begins as a hopeful and almost romantic journey, a mission to get married in every country that allows them slowly evolves into something much deeper, and much heavier. Because life, as the film reminds us, doesn’t always follow the plans we make.
Julian is about love and the right to exist fully within it. It highlights something we often forget, that even today, something as fundamental as marriage is still restricted depending on where you are in the world. But the film doesn’t approach this in a political or aggressive way. Instead, it focuses on the human side: The vulnerability of loving someone openly, The fear of losing that freedom and The fragility of happiness.
The performances from Nina Meurisse and Laurence Roothooft are incredibly raw and honest.There are moments where the silence says more than dialogue ever could and those are the moments that hit the hardest.
One of the most interesting insights came during the Q&A with director Cato Kusters. She shared that during filming, she maintained a very strict and controlled direction for certain parts of the film, especially those grounded in structure and narrative. But when it came to more personal, emotional scenes, the approach shifted.The camera became handheld.
The atmosphere became freer.The actors were given space to live the moment. And you can feel that contrast on screen.Those intimate scenes carry a different energy, more raw, more unpredictable, more human.
What makes Julian even more heartbreaking is its origin.This is not fiction.The story is based on real events, and deeply connected to Fleur’s own life later adapted into a book. Director Cato Kusters’ close relationship to Fleur adds another layer of intimacy to the film, making it feel less like an interpretation and more like a shared emotional memory. And that’s what makes it so difficult to watch at times.
Julian is not an easy watch.But it’s also necessary. Because it reminds us of the value of love, the importance of equality, and the reality that not everyone gets the happy ending they deserve. I cried a lot watching this film and even after leaving the cinema, it stayed with me.
And that’s how you know it matters.
