One woman dies every week in Australia at the hands of a partner or ex-partner. In France it’s one every three days. Referred to by Emmanuel Macron as a national shame, intimate partner violence is the backdrop and eventually the driving force to Xavier Legrand’s astounding debut feature Custody. At first intriguing and then eventually horrifying, this stands as one of the most assured and shocking debuts in recent memory.
We begin in family court, playing out with documentary style realism. Miriam (Léa Drucker) and Antoine (Denis Ménochet) are split after a messy divorce. Both armed with lawyers and beholden to the no nonsense magistrate’s decision, the battle lines are drawn. Miriam wants to keep their son away from his father while Antoine is arguing for joint custody, as the children are used like pawns in a cruel game of chess. A compromise is reached, which throws the 11-year old Julien (Thomas Gioria) into the middle of proceedings as the tug-of-war of his parents’ separation gets ugly. Resentment and violent anger begins to brew, as the breaking apart of this family escalates.
Made with sparse direction which is unmistakably French – lots of long takes and hard cuts – Custody knows how to wring every emotional beat out of its audience. Legrand, who both wrote and directed the feature which was based on a short film he made, shows himself as a talented filmmaker who knows how to give and then yank away sympathy.
At first it seems like this is going to be an even handed examination of a couple’s separation – both sides have faults and merits and as the magistrate says in the opening scene “nothing is black and white”. Yet when the film starts to show its hand we’re treated to one of the most revolting spectacles imaginable. As others have observed, this is two-thirds Kramer vs Kramer until an abrupt turn into the madness of The Shining in the final act. The denouement is both horrifying and upsetting, particularly for a non-horror film.
Much of this is due to Denis Ménochet, who non-French audiences probably know as the farmer from the opening scene of Inglorious Basterds. In a performance like nothing he’s played before he makes Antoine into a force of hatred and explosive rage. A compendium of every revolting male trait distilled into one character. All major performances are excellent here – especially that of the young Thomas Gioria – but Ménochet towers above the rest.
As good as Legrand’s direction is, his inexperience slips out slightly with a few narrative issues. In particular one revelation. Yet in terms of pure filmmaking this is an extraordinary display of new talent. Keep an eye on Xavier Legrand because we’re going to be seeing a lot more of his work in the coming years.
Custody is not a particularly nice watch; it’s a challenging and often confronting story which leaves behind no sense of optimism. Yet it’s also an important film which brings to life the horrors of family violence like never before. This happens every day. Our gaze should not be averted.
Custody is in cinemas from 27th September through Palace Films.
