Trailer
Turtles
Original title: Les Tortues
Sat
16
Sat 16 Nov 3:30 PM
Cinema Nova - Cinema 8
Wheelchair
Allocated Seating
MELBOURNE PREMIERE
Turtles is set in the cosy Brussels nest of over-60s Thom (Dave Johns) and Henri (Olivier Gourmet), two peas in a pod – or so it seems. Henri, a recently retired cop, is becoming bored with domesticities with stay-at-home hubby Thom, the optimist of the pair, who is nonetheless increasingly wary of Henri’s aloof behaviour (and time on dating apps) feeding the growing cracks in the relationship.
When Thom brings home a hook-up from the local pool, Henri soon follows suit and adds a dog to the rift (triggering Thom’s allergies), and as things escalate, Thom petitions for a divorce. But who is entitled to keep the house, left to them years before by a late friend? And who the pair of turtles, Topsy and Turvy, that came with it? Indignities and co-dependence aside, this is not the usual marriage/divorce narrative but a tender and thoughtfully paced examination of what happens to love as it ages.