TIFF 2025 Review: Julian “a moving, poignant, beautiful piece of cinema”

Courtesy of TIFF

At each festival, there should be at least one hidden gem. At the Toronto International Film Festival this year, one of those films for me is certainly Julian. Perhaps it is my current state of mind, but this film pledged war on my mascara, and the eye make-up undoubtedly lost. In her feature directorial debut, Cato Kusters crafts a beautiful yet devastating story of love and loss.

Julian is based on the memoir by Fleur Pieretes, which chronicles her romance with Julian, a woman she encounters in a fleeting moment at the symphony.  As Fleur, played by Nina Meurisse, sits listening to the music, she is distracted by the back of the woman’s neck.  Their courtship is a blur here in the film, but we soon learn over dinner with friends that Julian (Laurence Roothooft) and Fleur are engaged.  The table erupts in suggestions on where their nuptials should take place.  What about Italy or Greece?  But, the two women cannot legally get married in either of those countries (Greece only legalized same-sex marriage in 2024, a full 7 years after this film takes place).

This realization awakens something in Fleur, and late at night she proposes an idea – that they should get married in every country that will let them.  Julian sleepily agrees, but once she sees Fleur planning, recognizes that she is very serious.  They will get married in their home country of Belgium and then travel, getting sponsors and contacting media, in order to bring attention to the fact that only 22 out of 196 countries (at that time) will allow the union.  What the happy couple doesn’t realize, is that the biggest challenge of their lives is about to get in the way of their formidable goal.

For those that may be familiar with Pieretes’ memoir, you know what it coming.  For those who don’t, perhaps stop reading here and just know that the film is worth your time and attention.

While I thought Julian was going to be a lovely romance with a powerful message, what I didn’t expect was the absolute heartbreak it delivered.  While these two women, who we get to know more intimately through Kusters’ use of camcorder footage, have a lofty goal, they only end up getting married in four countries.  It is at this point they discover Julian is ill.  The last half of the film is about the “in sickness and in health” part of the vows, with Fleur taking care of her wife with the help of their doctor friend and her mother.  But Julian sadly passes away.  Still a beautiful story, still has a powerful message, but Kusters really hits you where it hurts.

The story is told in a non-linear fashion with Fleur in 2019 New York City about to deliver a lecture about her dearly departed wife and their mission to raise awareness.  This gives us a bit of a break from some of the heavier emotion, but also allows Kusters to get creative in how she reveals this devastating outcome, which, if you don’t see coming, only impacts that much harder.

Meurisse, whose star is certainly climbing after her turn in Céline Sciamma’s Petite Maman, does a lot of heavy lifting in this film.  She is our window into the joy of lasting love and the toll of grief.  Though none of that would be effective without us first believing in the unbreakable connection between these two women, and the chemistry between Meurisse and Roothooft provides this foundation.  Their playful use of the camcorder to document their lives makes the audience part of their romance, and also gives Julian different textures and feel throughout.

I’m not sure I will soon forget the crushing heartache I felt watching this film, but I can forgive Kusters, since she also made this moving, poignant, beautiful piece of cinema that carries with it significant meaning.  The message isn’t just in what Fleur and Julian intended, though bringing attention to the number of countries with legal same-sex marriage is of utmost importance (that number has only gone from 22 to 38 since the couple embarked on their journey).  But Julian also reminds us to never take time for granted, especially when it comes to the person you love.  We might feel we have a lot of opportunities to say the words we need to say, but time is not always assured.  May Julian’s legacy remind us of all these things.

Julian had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival September 6, 2025. For more information head to tiff.net