Custody

Emerging French auteur Xavier Legrand deserves every bit of the praise he’s had heaped on him for this engrossing debut feature, which earned him the Silver Lion for best director at last year’s Venice Film Festival. Cutting straight to the chase, he plunges the viewer into the marital strife of an estranged couple (Denis Menochet and Lea Drucker at the top of their games) who are locked in a bitter dispute over the custody of their son (Thomas Gioria). Filmed in a naturalistic manner that frequently echoes the Dardennes brothers, Legrand teasingly toys with our initial expectations and ramps up the tension as he leads us towards a nightmarish crescendo that unexpectedly recalls The Shining. Every frame of this breathtakingly precise film conspires to ensure that you’ll emerge feeling shell-shocked.

Custody (Jusqu'à la Garde) | Directed by Xavier Legrand (France, 2017), with Denis Menochet, Lea Drucker. Starts August 23.

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