Escorted by their lawyers, Myriam and Antoine are in front of the judge. In the middle of the divorce process, The couple defends their positions regarding the possibility of establishing a shared custody regime for their children. Each party presents its arguments, leaving the decision in the hands of the judge. This is how the first feature film by French director Xabier Legrand begins, which, in our country, It is titled precisely like that, Joint custody, a crude story that addresses the always difficult issue of gender violence. After vision failure, Myriam and Antoine must agree to establish a visitation regime for their little son, Julien. But taking care of the child is an excuse that hides Antoine's true intentions., who seeks to recover his partner, who harasses insistently with dramatic consequences. G.LEON
This film is based on a previous short of yours, Before losing everything, that tells a similar story. What encouraged you to translate that story into a feature film??
Bueno, It's not that I was inspired by the short to make a feature film.. At first it was about addressing the topic by making a trilogy, that is to say, three short films. But when I made the first episode, I found that the project of the three shorts was much more interesting if they were united into a feature film. I was going to tell three different moments of the couple's relationship.. The first episode, the short that already exists, It is “the escape”, and takes place in a single day in which she takes refuge in her workplace and manages to escape from her husband's abuse.. and there, to tell that atypical trip, the short one was the most effective. But later, for the divorce process, the child's involvement and the consequences of that new life, It seemed important and deeper to me if it was developed over more time and united, because one thing does not go without the other.
What was the script writing process like?? Did you build on what you had already learned to make that trilogy or did you start a new investigation according to the new structure??
Before starting to write the script, both of one and the other, there was a moment of documentation. I consulted many books, sociological, fictional, I spoke with many women victims of gender violence, I also went to groups of men who undergo therapy, I was also with the judges, I also spoke with the police. And once I had it all, then I started writing to create a story.
And what was the process like?? Did you directly transfer what they had told you to the script or is there your own contribution?? How do you approach this transfer of what you have learned to the story??
What I tried was to detect the common factors that existed in all the stories they told me.. For example, isolation of the victim. Women don't want to be taken for victims. They are very brave women. The consequences also with children. many children, especially the boys, develop a hyper-protective syndrome (in which they want to protect their father). The manipulation of violent men, of the aggressor: how can it be charming, how do they get information, How do they manage to demonstrate that they are very good people and make them complain?, in appearance, something legitimate. Most of the time, when the separation happens, when women decide to leave, right after is when they mess with their own women the most, This is when there are the most homicides. With all this I tried to write a witness story, in a way, universal.
Shared Custody is a film basically about actors, in which you manage to convey the intimacy of the characters of those characters they play. How did you work with them to achieve that degree of depth?
Yeah, with the adults the good thing is that we had already made the short together. I chose Léa Drucker and Denis Ménochet because they are impeccable actors and because they know each other very well and trust each other a lot.. Y, therefore, that intimacy already existed before. Then it was proposed to separate the psychological work of the character with the specific moment of the action when filming.. There was a time when we tried to develop the psychology of the character, delve into the past, in its history. And once we had this very concrete, Psychology was not discussed during filming., We no longer talked about the past because we had it integrated, and we were only in the detail, in the rhythm, in the look, in the way you look at a man you've loved for seventeen years, how do you hug a woman who has left you, but you still fight to conquer. That is to say, very specific things, very sensitive, very corporal and very sensual.
The story is very dramatic, with very violent moments. Was there any special reaction on the part of the actors with any specific sequence in which they felt confronted??
No, At no time did they feel in danger. I am an actor too, and I think you surpass your best when you network. Networks, obviously symbolic, ¿no? The fact that you feel comfortable when you trust the people you work with. I think I made sure that everyone felt safe and that they didn't get the impression that I was stealing something from them that they didn't want to give me..
Work with the child, Thomas Gioria (who plays Julien) is special. I don't know if he is an actor who already had experience, but I would like you to tell us how you worked with him, How did he get all those nuances of his character?.
No, I had never worked in the cinema or anywhere else. What does happen is that he had been going to interpretation courses for three years. When you work with a very sensitive child like this, who also wants to be an actor, what is your dream, everything is much easier. The truth is that I worked with him as if he were an adult. He had a person who was with him all day, so that he would not get tired, Because I couldn't focus on him alone.. And from that moment on I was very comfortable and could give it my all., he wanted to give it his all. And that is the paradox of the interpreter's job.. Instead of interpreting, It is said “play”. A performer plays, ¿no? And although the scenes are painful, terrible, hard, there is a pleasure because the performer plays. You know what happens between “action” and “cut” is false, you're making a movie, you tell a story, a character. And Thomas is someone who understood it immediately.
The film begins with the view, in the courts. In Joint custody two worlds confront: the cold development of the process with the subsequent reality. I don't know if that was your intention., that of confronting these two universes, the formal, with the judicial process, and then the reality after, to raise some kind of debate.
Yeah, yes of course. I had it in mind. I thought it was interesting to start from the point of view of a judge and then look for what the judge will never see., the reality. That's basic to the movie..
In that first sequence, the film raises the question of joint custody, but somehow the burden of blame for the end of the relationship falls on the man. I was thinking about tapes like after us, by Joachim Lafosse, where, somehow, the responsibility for failure is more distributed. I was wondering if you are not afraid that some viewers will not fully understand your presentation?.
Here I would tell you that I am not just talking about shared custody and paternity.. The film revolves around gender violence. I'm talking about some violent men. And I talk about the impact of that violence on children.. Therefore, There I do try to compare the marital act with parenthood in France. In France all men who have been imprisoned or persecuted for marital violence, in it 96% of the cases, they are men. Therefore, I am beyond the cliché, of the common place and what I have done is simply portray a reality. Us, the men, we must accept this. It's time we accept it and see it.
Have you already collected reactions from viewers of your film?? Any assessment that particularly surprised you??
Yeah, Yeah, we have had many reactions. Lots of reactions. Most of them very moved. Astonishment, also. I think that, although gender violence is not known, you can't be insensitive to the subject. It also raises the relationship between men and women in the patriarchal society in which we have all grown up.. That's why people come out of the movie very moved.. And for people who have experienced those types of situations, Many have told me that I have managed to capture in an image what they felt and that they had never been able to formulate.. Many people tell me, “bravo”, because you liked the movie, but there are also other people who say “thank you” to me for having made a film about this topic and speaking in this way..
The formal approach of the film is very simple. What you see is what there is. How did you approach that part to tell the story??
Yeah, That was already included in the script.. What I tell and what I don't tell. From the point of view of the script, there should not be any superfluous scenes and it should be very effective and not at all complacent.. And then the composition of the frames of the shots was planned according to the situation. For example, In the first part we see it from the judge's point of view and I force myself to be rigorous to always place the camera from that position. And when speaking from the child's point of view, very subtly, the camera lowers to eye level. It is enough to be at the height of the child to tell many things. When we put ourselves in the woman's point of view, of the woman who flees, who tries to hide from the man who threatens her, If you look closely the camera always moves. That's where I used the steady-cam a lot., el dolly.
To finish, I wanted to ask you if, with this movie, Is the issue settled for you or do you plan to address it later?, if you have anything left to say, as happened with the previous short and now with the movie.
Ah, no, no. The issue is now settled. I feel like moving on to something else. There are many more topics that interest me. I have many other things to tell. very many.
Joint custody opens this Friday in commercial theaters.
