Review: I’ve Loved You So Long

I’ve Loved You So Long

OPENING: 10/24/2008

STUDIO: Sony Classics

TRAILER: Trailer

ACCOMPLICES: Official Site

The Charge
A family secret. A sister’s love.

Opening Statement
Pressed for an explanation for her lengthy absence by an obnoxious guest at a dinner party, Juliette tells him: “I was in prison for 15 years, for murder.” She nervously buries a half-smile, almost surprised by what she has said to a group of strangers. Everyone at the table bursts out laughing; they’re impressed by her wicked sense of humor. Everyone, that is, except for the few who know Juliette isn’t joking.

After a successful run on this year’s festival circuit — part of the official competition at Telluride and Toronto; winner of the juried and audience prizes at Berlin and Vancouver respectively — I’ve Loved You So Long brings a foreign flavor to the current crop of Fall movies. This French drama is a moving and masterful portrait of family secrets, reconciliation and renewal. A remarkable performance by Kristin Scott Thomas is just one aspect of this excellent film that hits all the right emotional notes without forcing it upon the audience.

Facts of the Case
After 15 years in prison, Juliette (Kristin Scott Thomas, The Walker) is not quite ready to re-enter the world. Upon her release, younger sister Léa (Elysa Zylberstein) takes Juliette back to her home in Nancy, France. Léa barely remembers her sister because she was too young to understand when the tragic incident occurred. Plus, her parents told Léa to act like her sister was dead. Her husband Luc is understandably apprehensive about Juliette staying in their home and he can’t wait for her to leave. Their adopted daughters take an instant liking to their new aunt, though they wonder why they’ve never heard of Juliette until now.

Appointments with a social worker and looking for work give Juliette the semblance of a routine, but she’s holding on to a pain deep within herself that prevents her from reconnecting with society. Almost everyone is tiptoeing around the subject and Juliette herself is the least willing to talk about the incident. Léa, on the other hand, wants to know more about the tragedy that took away her older sister. Léa loves her sister regardless, but she is compelled to discover the terrible family secret.

The Evidence
The versatile actress Kristin Scott Thomas has starred in a wide range of movie genres covering comedy (Four Weddings and a Funeral) to literary adaptation (The English Patient) to blockbuster action flicks (Mission: Impossible) and places in between. She has also worked with veteran directors such as Roman Polanski, Robert Altman and Sidney Pollack. Here, collaborating with Philippe Claudel on his debut feature film, Scott Thomas gives one of her best performances as a woman living in her own personal prison. Viewers on this side of the Atlantic will be pleasantly surprised by her French-language performance — a resident of Paris, Scott Thomas is fluent in French. When we first see her, Juliette looks almost sickly in her pale skin and ill-fitting, drab clothes. She accepts her sister’s kindness but she’s emotionally shut off. The world ended for her 15 years ago. Even getting upset with people who ask stupid questions of her requires a great deal of effort. When she impulsively picks up a man at a café for some quick sex, she does so on the chance that she might feel something, anything, from it.

If Scott Thomas had merely found the right note of profound sorrow for her character, her performance might have been noteworthy enough. But this story is about the possibility of personal rebirth from tragedy and it’s the small details of Juliette’s transformation that make her seem so real. Through her body language we gradually sense life returning to Juliette. Perhaps it is from her exposure to the adorable innocence of her adopted nieces or the patient friendship of Léa’s understanding work colleague. There’s also the measured amusement she gets from the blunt flirtations of her parole officer that almost cause her to emerge from her shell. Yet, all the while there is something that continues to keep Juliette locked in her prison. The movie is knowing and honest about the fact that healing takes time and its heroine has no sudden epiphany, only days that gradually feel less painful than the last.

From Juliette’s haunted stare to the suspicious eyes cast back upon her, every element of this movie feels true. Luc, Léa’s husband, behaves in a completely believable manner: he’s not irrationally hostile toward Juliette, but he doesn’t want her in his house. Trying to be a good husband and a supportive brother-in-law, he nonetheless is discomforted by her presence. Similarly, the other unfriendly persons Juliette encounters, such as the employer who is revolted by her history, are not presented as villains but rather normal people reacting honestly to the facts of her case.

As the rediscovered link to the past and to her family, Léa is the beacon of hope to Juliette’s lost soul. Though Juliette is practically a stranger to her, Léa welcomes her sister into her home without reservation. Léa is an intelligent and loving person but she too is traumatized by the family’s history. She and Luc have adopted two girls because Léa didn’t want to give birth. Léa might not fully comprehend the reason for her decision but it’s somehow tied to her impression of Juliette’s actions from so long ago. Elysa Zylberstein is excellent as Léa, a woman who has never understood her older sibling’s horrible crime but is determined to uncover the truth out of sisterly love.

Novelist and screenwriter Philippe Claudel’s first feature film is a confident and accomplished work built on layered details and truthful observation. The script is tightly constructed around the themes of isolation and imprisonment but there is never a moment that feels false or contrived. There are plenty of moments in this movie that could have been manipulated to wring every emotion from the scene if it were in less careful hands. Claudel prefers to capture our interest through characterizations that feel completely real. His deliberate underplaying of the big moments in the story makes them all the more memorable. There is one scene, a reunion at a hospital, which appears to be handled so minimally yet I was really moved precisely because I wasn’t being told how to react. There is no need for melodrama when so much tension is drawn out from the honest observation of people.

Closing Statement
A very strong debut by writer-director Philippe Claudel and a great performance by Kristin Scott Thomas makes I’ve Loved You So Long one of the best films I’ve seen this year. Family dramas concerning the return of a prodigal member and the scars of tragedy are common enough but this one stands out for its emotional realism and a script that avoids the usual melodramatic traps. This story of a woman crushed by great sadness and those who try to rescue her with love stayed with me for a long time.

The Verdict
9/10

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