Poster for the movie Guardianship
Reference News Network reported on August 13 that the French film "Guardianship" was nominated for the Golden Lion Award at the 74th Venice International Film Festival in 2017, and finally won the Best Director and Best Debut Award of the Festival.
Director Xavier Legrand has only one short film, "Strange Road Lost", which tells the story of his wife's escape after being abused by her husband, and the feature film "Guardianship" can be seen as a continuation of this short film.
Amazingly, Xavier Legrand maintains an undercurrent of suspense, and unlike the jerkiness of his debut, he grabs the audience's attention with unusual sophistication — for a full 93 minutes, the audience is firmly "nailed" to the seat.
When watching the movie, the auditorium is silent, and the audience is brought into an atmosphere of panic and anxiety; and in the last 20 minutes, the audience's tension can be described as extreme.
The problem of domestic violence is raised in a suspenseful way
Suspenseful courtroom trial scenes
Different from the previous social themes, "Guardianship" uses a suspenseful way to strip away the problem of domestic violence layer by layer, which seems to be more able to show the suddenness and unpredictability of domestic violence.
The film begins with his wife Miriam going through divorce with her husband, Antoine Kitatsu, who faces a judge and wants custody of his 12-year-old son, Julian.
At this moment, the audience does not know who is right and who is wrong—
The burly, loyal husband cried and complained: "Don't let me see the child", "Won't answer my phone", "Don't tell me the address after moving", "I quit my job, my problem has been corrected"... The tearful performance made the audience unconsciously on the side of the father.
The thin, stoic wife doesn't speak much and has a haggard face, but tries to be calm and objective—"The daughter wrote a letter saying she didn't want to see his father, and her son didn't want to see him."
His 12-year-old son, Julian, was a victim of the storm
Why would a son refuse to see his father? The fog is gradually being lifted...
The verdict turned out that the husband had the right to visit the children every weekend.
At this point, the audience still has a bit of luck: the role of the father is important in the family, and the court's judgment is often more objective and fair, without being blinded by emotion.
But soon after, the audience realized that their judgment was wrong and was "snapped" in the face!
Deliberately delay the flashpoint of conflict
Mother and son constantly deal with "domestic violence men"
At this time, the "guardianship storm" began, and various "tug-of-war" of wits and courage were constantly staged:
The son pretended to be ill and did not want to see his father; the wife and family sneaked to find a house; at the daughter's birthday party, the uninvited father played drunk outside the door.
The audience gradually discovers that beneath his father's seemingly loving and caring face is an abomination of teeth and claws: his emotions are becoming more and more difficult to control, and physical violence is escalating. Antoine Kitatsu may be the French version of Anjahe, the "belly black" husband who often loses control of his emotions in the TV series "Don't Talk to Strangers". Antoine Kitatsu is even more terrifying than Anjawa, because his claws are also reaching out to his son.
When the son refused to reveal the location of the residence, the father roughly pulled on his son's backpack and dragged him at a rapid pace, and the car was out of control for a while.
Antoine's knock on the door is often very urgent.
He wandered around his wife's new home, scrutinizing it and searching the room.
He always tries to find out that his wife is hiding the traces of "another person", and the abusive man is manipulated by jealousy and control.
Director Xavier Legrand has been delaying the flashpoint of conflict, deliberately stirring the audience's nerves again and again.
It resembles the thrilling scene of the breaking of the door of "The Shining"
The last 20 minutes of the film are the climax of the whole film, and the audience's emotions usher in the final blow: some people praise the horror level comparable to "The Shining"——
Her husband broke into the private house at night, and when he lost his mind, he shot 3 holes in the door with a gun.
Corresponding to this is the trembling of his wife and children, who have to hide in the bathtub and wait for rescue - the same as Jack in "The Shining" who breaks in with a gun.
It's just that Jack is possessed like a ghost, and his exaggerated evil smile overflows all over his face; and Antoine is a numb and cold face, without a trace of waves.
The atmosphere of fear is so interconnected.
The restrained lens language is even more frightening
Guardianship omits many backgrounds
The film's director was very restrained in using footage.
Where does the father's violent tendencies come? What is the relationship between the parents of the original family? What is his profession? Did he ever beat up his eldest daughter?
None of these directors gave an account.
Even the use of lenses is very restrained. In a scene where the daughter is in the toilet, the camera keeps pushing slowly, only aiming at the subtle movement of her feet walking back and forth.
But in connection with the details such as the pill box that appears in the picture and the protagonist's pause, you can guess that the girl is undergoing pregnancy testing, and once the excitement, nervousness, and anxiety are spread, the audience's imagination space is filled more fully.
Similarly, when showing the father's violent behavior, it is often accompanied by the sound of telephones, car driving, elevators running, and banging knocks, and the images are often static or dark.
Compared with the concise description, the horror atmosphere created by the film is even more maddening.
Domestic violence has the characteristics of "family ugliness cannot be publicized", and the victims are often in a mood of shame, guilt, and even self-blame, and it is more difficult to seek help.
Even when the police are approached, they are often told to "mediate internally."
The male character of the father is in a strong dominant position, intimidating, threatening, and inseparable stalking, making women vulnerable - not only physically devastated, but also mentally tortured.
They often exhibit Stockholm syndrome: relying on dependence, understanding, and tolerance to help perpetrators justify themselves in order to escape their own blame and torture – why did I encounter domestic violence?
Remove the "gentle" mask of "domestic violence men"
"Domestic violence men" often seem warm, but in fact they are cruel
But the audience is not the person involved and cannot put themselves in the shoes of the audience. That suffocating fear cannot be alleviated or eliminated by reasoning and preaching. Director Xavier Legrand seems to have invited an unknown audience and pulled them into the center of the storm.
In addition, "domestic violence men" are often modest and courteous, and there is no lack of gentleness, and they are good men, good fathers, and good husbands in the eyes of the outside world. The father in the film also has tearful moments of repentance, but this is often how people are blinded by simple appearances.
The emotional impact faced by the audience is often extreme: how can the fragile and sensitive father, who was fragile and sensitive a second ago, become so mad and violent?
They often think that they are just out of control of their emotions for a while, and they can change their mistakes when they know it, but they do not understand that the shadow cast by domestic violence on the family and the harm caused to innocent children is as deep as a knife.
The son in the film holds his breath, the haze flashes in front of his eyes, and the scene where the son lies to protect his mother is heart-wrenching.
The son said to his father in a calm tone, "I don't want to see you beat your mother again." It reveals the numbness of the son to his father after countless sobs.
The father in "Guardianship" is undoubtedly flawed in character, he is fragile and sensitive and stubborn, and the whole story begins with kindness and ends with violence.
In fact, there are countless real "guardianship storm" events outside the play.
But the film director does not make a strong moral judgment, and the taste of domestic violence has been revealed.
In the end, my father was kidnapped by the police, but the war would not end simply. And the audience was also awakened:
Domestic violence is not a verbal altercation and should never be tolerated. (Text/Zhu Qiqi)