In his previous films Girl (2018) and Close (2022), celebrated Belgian filmmaker Lukas Dhont explored the delicate emotional bonds between vulnerable characters. His third feature ups the stakes, bringing those concerns to the battlefield, as he focuses on two young soldiers who fall in love amidst the carnage of war. Emmanuel Macchia and Valentin Campagne shared the Best Actor prize at the Cannes Film Festival for their unguarded portrayals of, respectively, Pierre, a shy young farmer struggling to find his voice and overcome his fear, and the proudly theatrical Francis, who spearheads a series of performances to entertain his fellow troops. This tender World War I drama subverts preconceived notions about masculinity and warfare, and Macchia (making his big-screen debut) is especially affecting as a young man who discovers an unexpected romance. Set against the brutality of combat, Coward draws inspiration from actual cross-dressing theater revues that took place during the Great War, examining how sexual identity, intimacy, and survival were interwoven during that bloody conflict. —Tim Grierson