I’ve Loved You So Long (2008)

Killing another person is a life-altering event; the same goes for spending time in prison. Now imagine that the two events were combined, and the life you took was that of your six-year-old son. This is the scenario created in I’ve Loved You So Long, a soul-wrenching French drama from director Philippe Claudel.

Kristin Scott Thomas stars as Juliette Fontaine, a woman just released after 15 years of incarceration for the murder of her young son, Pierre. Although she’s had no contact with the outside world for much of that time, her younger sister Lea (Elsa Zylberstein) unexpectedly shows up just prior to her release and offers Juliette a place to stay: with nowhere else to go, she accepts.

Juliette soon finds herself in the bosom of Lea’s family, including a skeptical husband, a mute father-in-law, and a curious adopted daughter from Vietnam. The remainder of the film revolves around Juliette’s efforts to start a new life and cope with the crushing guilt over her past actions.

Women often get shortchanged when it comes to movie roles, but that’s not the case with I’ve Loved You So Long. Kristin Scott Thomas has taken a role which allows her to explore every facet of the human psyche, and she does so with an absolute mastery of her craft.

As the film begins, Juliette is just being released from prison, and her emotional state is withdrawn and guarded. She hardly speaks during this phase, only muttering short answers to direct questions or offering a nervous smile and nod. But despite her lack of dialogue, Scott Thomas still ably conveys a wide range of emotion through subtle changes in her facial expressions and body position. If this isn’t Acting 101, then I don’t know what is.

It’s a real pleasure to watch Scott Thomas work, especially as Juliette begins to become more comfortable in her surroundings. When she finally unleashes a genuine smile, you may find yourself wanting to stand up and cheer. Her performance is just that good.

Scott Thomas was nominated for Golden Globe and BAFTA awards for this film, but somehow the Oscars completely passed her by. I don’t want to be overly dramatic and say that her exclusion was criminal, but it’s damn close. For most actresses, this would be a career-defining performance, but one gets the sense that this talented international star still has plenty of gas left in the tank.

Elsa Zylberstein also performs well as Lea, the younger sister struggling to simultaneously do the right thing and also atone for years of abandonment. The role of Lea doesn’t require the acting firepower of Juliette, but it does serve as the emotional center of the film. In Zylberstein’s performance, the audience finds a convenient window through which to enter the all-too-real world created by director Claudel.

While there are plenty of emotionally-charged scenes to be had, I tended to favor the quieter, gentler moments. Fortunately, there are many such moments in this cinematic gem from France.

The film unfolds slowly and deftly captures the natural progression of one woman’s life. While a sense of hope does creep in at moments, it largely remains a melancholy portrait of regret and loss. I’ve Loved You So Long isn’t always comfortable to watch, but it’s absolutely worth the effort.