TIFF 17 Film Review - Custody

A strong narrative combined with understated initial acting beats serve to build the suspense and tension in director's Xavier Legrand's full feature directing debut. The subject is domestic violence starting with a custody hearing in the first few frames of the piece. Miriam (Lea Drucker) her two children Josephine (Mathilde Auneveux) who's about to turn 18 and Julien (Thomas Gioria) the real subject of the hearing have been living in fear of the mental and physical abuse by their hulking father Antoine  (Denis Menochet). Antoine uses the hearing to apparently regain access to Julien but the real aim is to re establish contact with his ex-wife. Antoine demands that she come out to meet him when he arrives at her parent's house to pick up his son. He finds Mariam's number in her son's notebook requesting that she ask him directly if Julien can attend his sister's eighteenth birthday party that falls on a weekend that he has custody.

Director Legrand is a strong advocate fighting to expose domestic violence in France. At the TIFF screening he commented how in a 20 minute hearing a judge can set into a motion a series of events that can lead to a life threatening situation for several parties involved. The director's tactic to take a slow steady approach actually could have some viewers taking Antoine's side especially with the events that occur in the second act.

Denis Menochet as Antoine is the key performer in the film. He has to be menacing in his gestures and movement but not overtly violent for the narrative to work. Lea Drucker is also effective as the not entirely sympathetic Miriam. In the early stages of the film the audience is not sure if the children genuinely do not want to see their dad or are their comments and actions coloured by their mother. Thomas Gioria is highly believable as 12 year old Julien. He is completely fearful that his dad will physically attack his mom so much so that he constantly lies to him about her whereabouts despite the growing possibility that Antoine could take out his anger on him directly.

Custody is a warning to state institutions, law enforcement, the public and the courts that domestic violence is mainly suffered in silence with the psychological scars outweighing the physical ones by a large margin. It may make sense on paper for a parent to re enter a child's life but the effect of reestablishing regular contact with abused partner could lead to catastrophic results.

*** 1/2 Out of 4.

Custody | Xavier Legrand | France | 2017 | 94 Minutes.

Tags: Custody Hearing, Judge, Lawyers, Visitation, The Projects, Birthday Party, Grandparents, Unlisted Number, Apartment Hunting, Shotgun, 911 call.