Sixteen-year-old Maxime, a promising swimmer, is about to start a sports programme. One afternoon, the police interrupt his training to question his coach, accused of sexual abuse by one of the club’s young swimmers. These accusations will break the wall of silence Max has built to survive the abuse he himself suffered years ago.

Film expert recommends

Another short film in the oeuvre of a young filmmaker making films in the co-production of two countries that have been supporting each other in film for years. This time de Lestrade has made good use of the rather long (20 minutes) length to tell a story about sexual violence and the response to it. The abuse of minors is particularly loaded: conspiracies of silence, blaming oneself, shame, denial, and finally – the maturation of sharing one’s knowledge or trauma with others and rebuilding oneself. A Good Boy portrays this process with great psychological insight, worthy of the masters of the screen.

The film will be screened at a screening of “Finding your own voice. Short films”..