True intimacy is a rarity in film.

This may be a biproduct of the types of stories that dominate the medium, or possibly even a challenge of the physical scale of the artform itself. To happen upon a film that glows with closeness and warmth is challenging.

Perhaps thats what makes finding intimacy in a film feel like a such a turn of fortune – akin to finding a lucky coin on the sidewalk.

To that end, JULIAN is just such a lucky coin – and we have found it heads-up.

Based on a true story, JULIAN is the tale of Fleur (Nina Meurisse) and Julian (Laurance Roothooft). These women are hit hard by the thunderbolt and fall fast in love in the mid 2010’s. They quickly want to marry, actually hoping to strike out to the 22 nations where gay marriage has been legalized and get married in every one of them. It is a project geared at raising the profile of human rights, and making a bold statement about just how few parts of the world legitimize living so openly.

Midway through the adventure, Julian gets very sick, and their lives become about managing and tending to her health.

JULIAN is a tender film by first-time filmmaker, Cato Kusters. It’s about two people boldly moving through a world that is still very much uncomfortable with their very being. It is romantic, hopeful, heartbreaking, and beautiful in all of the ways.

The film skips forward and backward in time to paint a detailed picture the love Fleur and Julian share. It wants us to see them not only at their most celebratory and joyous, but also at their weakest and more vulnerable. It wants us to understand how each completes the other – the way the beautiful moments are shared and the hardest moments are made bearable.

To this end, it may not be a coincidence that two of the film’s most heartfelt moments are literally whispered promises. One is joyous, one is bittersweet; both are frighteningly honest.

Being so close to these women that we can hear them whisper their most closely-held feelings is the kind of gift that only film can achieve. It places us not only in the room with them at their most vulnerable, but right at the bedside…close enough to hear each sigh and taste each tear.

JULIAN was a bold life lived. It became a loving testament when Fleur documented the relationship in her book, and now it has evolved into a stunning piece of art with this film. It underlines the statement Julian and Fleur made all while being generous enough to illustrate why such statements are still needed.

It is a whispered moment of intimacy at a time where the world is consumed with yelling…and we are all better people after we hear what it whispers.