Young Hearts: a sincere but conventionally told story of queer young love

For all its winning sincerity and deeply felt performances, the Belgian writer-director Anthony Schatteman’s adolescent romance Young Hearts has a conventional feel. Elias (Lou Goossens) begins to realise he’s in love with his new classmate and neighbour Alexander (Marius De Saeger) and Schatteman traces the boys’ relationship through picturesque hallmarks: a mid-downpour first kiss, spontaneous skinny-dipping, late-night pebble tosses at bedroom windows. In many of these scenes, Schatteman overapplies Ruben De Gheselle’s tender score, lending unneeded schmaltz to already-heartwarming scenes.

During moments of strife, relatives or friends presented with near-magical reserves of empathy materialise to aid the youngsters in processing their feelings: Alexander’s aunt and uncle run a nightclub in Brussels and treat the teenagers to an intimate song rehearsal from one of their regular performers; Elias’ grandfather Fred (Dirk Van Dijck), a widowed farmer, whisks Elias away to a quaint bed-and-breakfast in the Ardennes where he used to stay with his wife. 

Schatteman’s handling of the day-to-day elements doesn’t much complicate the movie’s glowing tone. Elias’ dad Luk (Geert Van Rampelberg), a gregarious singer, attains minor fame with a prophetic track called “First Love,” while Alexander’s first day in class features a lecture on “courtly love.”  

But in some ways, Schatteman’s resolute positivity is refreshing. Another filmmaker might have thrust the school’s upperclassmen bullies, who shout obscenities about Elias and Alexander’s relationship, into a plotty antagonistic role. Schatteman rightly allows these pests to remain background presences, keeping the focus on the personalities that interest him. 

His habit of sending Elias and Alexander off on bucolic adventures also leads to one of the movie’s most endearing qualities — its evocation of the active life of 14-year-olds. Elias and Alexander bike across peaceful tree-lined paths, mock-wrestle in the grass and, in one daring episode, bust the lock on an abandoned house. Even a shot from a simple gym-class scene carries an infectious energy, the camera following Elias and mirroring his excitement as he increases his jogging pace to catch up with Alexander. 

Elias is a sensitive, inward-looking teenager. Instead of opening up to his parents, he turns to his grandfather as his primary confidant. Their bond also develops through physical activity, with grandpa’s lifetime-informed wisdom pouring forth during hikes, tractor rides, or other business around the farm. The camera basks in the warm embrace of Fred’s presence as he delivers to Elias all the customary platitudes about following one’s heart. Their almost too-idyllic scenes together encapsulate both the charms and the limitations of Young Hearts – a movie about the startling power of first love that itself generates few surprises. 

► Young Hearts is in UK cinemas now.