Custody (2018)
In the midst of a divorce, Miriam Besson decides to ask for exclusive custody of her son, in order to protect him from a father that she is accusing of violence. The judge-in-charge of the file grants a shared custody to the father whom it considers abused. Taken as a hostage between his parents, Julien Besson will do everything to prevent the worst from happening.
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Simply A Masterpiece
Just perfect...
Don't listen to the negative reviews
Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.
I started watching this at night, because I couldn't sleep. That wasn't such a good idea. First of all, I couldn't stop watching as the impending drama is palpable and you can't look away, you have to watch it unravel. Second of all, that was terrifying. The movie begins by throwing doubt on the father-mother relationship, you don't know who's right or wrong even if the father/ex-husband feels like a beast in hiding. It's subtle, but he seems dangerous, his eyes, mostly, are very cold and his stature is impressive. But the real feat of the movie is its distilled anguish, it's slow, and it feels some scenes aren't useful to the movie but they actually build up until its gripping finale. Anyway, you should watch it, it's masterful and a faithful depiction of the dramas you read in newspaper.
I find it hard to categorize and settle my thoughts on this film. It appears as a serious gritty kitchen-sink style drama, but Legrand keeps his story, ideas and characters very simple, and it eventually comes across as a slightly lame domestic version of an exploitation film. Its a story that could be told far more efficiently as a 30 minute short, without losing any meaning or impact (unless your thing is build-up for the sake of an ending, which the film delivers a lot of). It was mildly interesting to watch, although not particularly rewarding or stimulating. It just sort of plods along (with great acting mind). It unravels slightly and becomes slightly annoying. Then the last seven minutes or so become tense and gripping, then its all over and the credits roll. I'm just not sure what there really is to take from it - any specific angle (forewarning patterns of a person's intent/trajectory? Horror/suspense film? Character study? Psychology of co-dependency?) could have been delivered MUCH more substantially, effectively and in a way that leaves a much deeper imprint. It all feels a bit too short and tepid to really be worthy of a feature.
I'm french and this movie have quite a reputation in france. And usually i'm a bit disapointed when i heard people were shocked by a movie when i see it. I'm used to watch korean noir movies or serious subject movies. But here... i was so unconforable watching this, because it is completly realistic. Not that it could happen, but that it is happening somewhere. The actor are marvelous, the tension is great, just watch it, but not alone, don't look what it is about before, just enjoy the pain that you will get watching it :)
The French writer/director Xavier Legrand was nominated for the Oscar for Best Live Action Short for 2014 with his film "Just Before Losing Everything". This film was about a mother and her children who are fleeing a violent and abusive husband and it sure packed an emotional wallop. Amazingly, Legrand is back with the same family and a full-length follow up to the previous film and it's even better! A reason to watch this is because the most intense, heart- wrenching and well directed 15 minutes make up the final portion of the film and I could hear folks crying, gasping and calling out as well!!The film begins with a custody hearing. The judge is listening to the evidence and it's difficult to really know what's going on with the family. Is the father an abusive monster who doesn't deserve to have custody of his 11 year-old son? Or, is the child right when he says he never wishes to have contact with the man again and he's afraid of the man? Regardless, the judge decides to award joint custody to the father and mother. Inexplicably, the visits with the possibly violent father are unsupervised and the audience has no idea what's going to happen next. Needless to say really bad things are going to happen and soon!The first half of this movie is good but not amazing. It's all important as set up for the final portion and I cannot say enough about how well all this comes together at the end. Not a film for the faint of heart, but a blood-pumping, Adrenalin-inducing masterful film that could easily be a strong candidate for the Best Foreign Language Oscar. If it's not at least nominated, I'd be very surprised.