‘Custody’: Filmmaker Xavier Legrand Talks About His Masterful Domestic Violence Drama

There’s an obvious theme of using children as unwitting weapons in toxic or failed relationships. You often allude to past trauma and foreshadow by focusing on the perturbed or petrified expression on Julien’s face. Was this something you wrote in the script or added in later in the filmmaking process?
Yes, from the beginning it was important not to show the family’s past. In looking at domestic violence and its impact on children, it seemed more important to me to show how difficult it is to get out of it, rather to show how it has been committed for many years.

The theme of toxic masculinity is present through the character of Antoine. He is somebody who doesn’t learn from his mistakes. Whereas, contrarily, through Miriam, themes of abuse, being a survivor, strength, and independence emerge.  With their expert performances, Léa Drucker and Denis Ménochet personify these themes. Can you speak a bit about what it was like working with them?
Domestic violence is hidden violence. We did a lot of work on the subject with the actors and I led them to get completely into the skin of domestic violence so that they understand the mechanisms, but above all so that they avoid certain clichés that we may have about this theme. The most important thing was that they understood to what extent both the perpetrator and the victim are in denial of the violence. That is why my main guideline was that Denis should play the victim and Léa the guilty one. This is the paradox of this kind of situation: violent men feel themselves victims to justify their violence, and women victims of this violence feel guilt, shame, while trying to keep their dignity.

I’m a big fan of music in film and musical numbers in film. Mathilde Auneveux’s cover of “Proud Mary” was one of my favorite sequences in the film. There is so much going on underneath the surface. Can you walk me through the song choice of and peel back some of the layers behind that scene?
The choice of the song “Proud Mary” has several meanings. It’s a song that was covered by Ike and Tina Turner. Everyone knows, Tina Turner is a survivor. But also because the structure of the song is built on a slow and calm start, finishing faster or even roughly, just like the structure of the film. It is also a song about freedom and solidarity. Joséphine, when she sings this song in front of her whole family, is concerned about what is happening outside the village hall. Yet it is also a farewell that she is singing to them, without knowing it. As in the song, she will flee a kind of bondage to build her own life with the one she loves.

Amazingly, “Jusqu’à la garde” doesn’t feature a score, aside from the “Proud Mary” cover, making it all the more impressive that you were able to make such an effective thriller in your finished product. Can you explain the decision to not feature music in your film?
This principle was already decided at the beginning of the project. In my short film “Just Before Losing Everything“, I used the same process. The idea came from the beginning the writing process: I had gathered many testimonies. The stories of these women were real thrillers, but daily thrillers. One of them told me that at night, when she was home and her husband came home from work, she knew if she was going to be beaten the way he put the key in the lock and opened the door. I understood that no music would help convey and translate this sound terrorism. So the music of the film would be the sounds of everyday life.

“Jusqu’à la garde” has been compared to Hitchcock, Chabrol, and Mungiu in its ability to keep the audience on the edge of its seat. You play a lot with perspective, closeups, ambiguous lighting and a tight story to keep the tension rising. Who are some of your cinematic influences?
Indeed, Hitchcock and Chabrol are directors I love and who have influenced my work. Michael Haneke is a filmmaker who also played an important role in writing and designing this project. “The Night of the Hunter” with Charles Laughton or “The Shining” of Stanley Kubrick were also influences for “Custody”

The suspense never stops strengthening until the final scene. Did you always anticipate that Miriam, Antoine, and Julien’s story would end on such a loud note?
Of course, it was important for me to reflect a reality, without making concessions. The transformation of the genre during the film was present from the beginning of the writing. I wanted to go from a social drama to a horror movie via the thriller. It was interesting to flesh out the story’s arc. Some court decisions can lead families into terrifying situations, so the question was how to move from the first image of the film (which is in the office of a family court judge) to the last image that is in a bathtub.

You started acting long before you began filmmaking, for which you’ve received wide acclaim. After the Oscar nomination and the Silver Lion at Venice, do you consider yourself more of an actor or a filmmaker?
I still consider myself an actor, since that’s what I’ve been doing for many years now. But today, I don’t want to choose. I want to continue acting in, writing and directing films.

What is your educational background as a filmmaker and actor? Is it formal or more hands-on?
I studied acting at one of the most important national drama schools (Conservatoire National Supérieur d’Art Dramatique of Paris). But I didn’t have any film training. I really learned on the job, more hands-on.

Are there any exciting new projects that you are currently working on?
I just played a French Secret Service Spy in the first feature film of a French director. I am also writing my second feature film. And I’m going to do a stage play next year.