mlina-79357
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.
rahimlaban
Many unnecessary scenes.
Did not sympathize with any of the characters.
Genadijus-L
Riveting directing by debuting Xavier Legrand and stellar acting by both actors playing parents (Léa Drucker and Denis Ménochet), and most importantly by the young actor Thomas Gloria. It's been a while since a decent movie by brothers Dardennes, here you'll their style and even more. Real and touching in every scene until the final credits.
Precise use of close ups translating the real emotional power of the characters and accurately composed scenes provide a great experience of social drama on screen.
MartinHafer
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.
AD
