I’ve Loved You So Long is a performance piece if I have ever seen one. It is a formulaic story that would otherwise only pander to the simplest of minds, but it holds its secrets close to the chest, long enough for you to wonder and not too long for you to get annoyed. It’s a mystery as much as it is a dramatic story of a woman’s re-introduction into society and her ability to cope with those around her and her terrible past.
The story begins as Juliette Fontaine (Kristin Scott Thomas) comes home from a 15 year stint in prison. We don’t know why, but that is part of the film’s charm and even though the trailers for the film open you up to why, the real reason is still hidden until just the opportune moment. Juliette is picked up by her younger sister Lea played Elsa Zylberstein and it is the dynamic of their story and Juliette’s attempt at putting together some semblance of a life that is at the film’s heart and soul.
Both Kristin Scott Thomas and Elsa Zylberstein deliver Oscar worthy performances, both actually the best female performances I have seen this year. Scott Thomas taps into a range of emotions from shyness, self-pity, elation to love. All are necessary to keep the film from devolving into typical clichéd schlock and Zylberstein uses it to her advantage and elevates her performance as a result.
The film is 100% about Juliette’s ability or inability to successfully reintegrate into society after her time in jail. Examples such as getting a job, social functions, relationships and even interaction at home and the decision of who to tell what and when to tell them. As an audience member knowing enough to get you from scene to scene, you watch as Juliette struggles in each situation and you learn enough to know this is a person you could trust. She isn’t a monster, but you are able to see both sides of the equation and it keeps you on edge until the climactic reveal where many are sure to leave their hearts in the theater.
Kristin Scott-Thomas is so frequently associated with that over-rated exploration of desert scenery The English Patient one can only hope this film elevates her out of those trappings seeing how this is a film made by its actors and owes every ounce of its success to them. Along with Zylberstein, these two actors manage to turn director Philippe Claudel’s film from what could have been a wholly ignored melodrama into a story of tragedy that is watchable on more than one occasion and it is all due to Claudel’s ability to sit back and let his actors do the work for him.
