Coward (2026 film)
2026 film by Lukas Dhont
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Coward is a 2026 war drama film directed by Lukas Dhont, co-written with Angelo Tijssens. Starring Emmanuel Macchia (in his acting debut) as Valentin Campagne Pierre and Francis, it follows a gay love story in the Belgian front of the World War I Belgian trench warfare.[1]
- Lukas Dhont
- Angelo Tijssens
- Michiel Dhont
- Juliette Schrameck
| Coward | |
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| Directed by | Lukas Dhont |
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| Cinematography | Frank van den Eeden |
| Edited by | Alain Dessauvage |
| Music by | Valentin Hadjadj |
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Running time | 120 minutes |
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The film had its world premiere at the main competition of the 2026 Cannes Film Festival on 21 May,[2] where it won Prix du Cinéma Positif and Macchia and Campagne won the Best Actor award.[3]
Premise
In 1916, during the World War I, Pierre serves at the Belgian front alongside other comrades. Behind the trench warfare, the soldiers try to keep their spirits up. One day, Pierre meets the flamboyant Francis. To counter the rhetoric of war and the omnipresent misery, the two men decide, with their comrades, to put on a theatrical revue.[4][5]
Cast
- Emmanuel Macchia as Pierre[6]
- Valentin Campagne as Francis
- Jonas Wertz
- Boris Bouchat as Thomas
- Mathieu Carpentier as Sergeant Dubois M.
- Anaëlle Fournier as Mathilde
- Mistral Guidotti as Gustaaf Cooreman
- Jef Jacobs as Jozef Stevens
- Emil Krastev as Émile
- Tijmen Van Damme as Ernst
- Orlando Vauthier as Rik
- Tuur Verelst as Arthur
Production
Development
The screenplay for Coward was developed over three years, with Dhont and co-writer Angelo Tijssens conducting historical research in archives including London's Imperial War Museums, along with sources in Belgium and France.[7] The writers learned of male soldiers performing theater pieces on the front lines, cross-dressing, usually playing the roles of wives and mothers, discovering rare lasting romantic connections of closeted queer people.[8]
Coward is co-produced by The Reunion, a Belgian production company founded in 2021 by Dhont and his brother Michiel Dhont,[7] alongside Versus Production, Topkapi Films and producer Juliette Schrameck for Lumen.[9][10] The project received multiple sources of public funding, including €500,000 from Eurimages and €200,000 from Screen Flanders.[11][12] It was co-produced by France 2 Cinéma, Ciné+ OCS, VTM, RTBF, Proximus, BeTV and Orange.
Filming
Principal photography was scheduled to begin in September 2025, with filming taking place in Belgium and New York.[7]
![](#/media/File:"Coward"_at_the_2026_Cannes_Film_Festival.jpg)
Release
The film had its world premiere at the main competition of the 79th Cannes Film Festival on 21 May 2026, marking Dhont's third feature film selected for the festival's official selection following Girl (2018) and Close (2022).[13]
In May 2026, Mubi acquired distribution rights to Coward for the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain and Turkey; Mubi previously distributed Dhont's 2022 film Close in several countries.[14] Shortly after the film's Cannes premiere, Mubi also acquired rights to the film for North America.[15]
The Match Factory and Cologne will handle the world sales.[10]
Reception
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 100% based on 12 reviews, with an average rating of 7.7/10.[16] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 68 out of 100, based on 9 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[17]