I've Loved You So Long
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Movie Reviews of I've Loved You So Long
Movie Review: i've Loved You So Long
Summary: 5 Stars
An amazing film about family and grief. How each sister handles her misunderstanding of the other and the secret that separates them.Movie Review: Very pleased.
Summary: 5 Stars
Item arrived in exact condition described by seller. Works perfectly. Two thumbs way up for the movie, high five for the seller.Movie Review: An unexpected surprise...
Summary: 4 Stars
I had heard a lot of mixed reviews on `Il y a Longtemps Que je T'aime', and so going in all I really expected to love was Kristin Scott Thomas (because there was no mixed review there, everyone said she was phenomenal). I was pleasantly surprised, for while there were aspects of the film I wish had been worked out differently, this movie actually proved to be far better than I initially expected.
I'll yell "SPOILERS" here (minor)...
The film tells the unsettling story of a woman named Juliette, who, after spending 15 years in prison for murdering her 6-year-old son, is released into the world and has to rehabilitate. She moves in with her sister, who she's never spoken to since her arrest. Her family had disowned her and she has no knowledge of their life now. Her sister, Lea, is married and has two adopted Vietnamese children. She lives with her husband and his father. Her husband, Luc, is apprehensive about Juliette. The thing is, everyone knows what she's done but no one knows why she did it, and so that lingering question haunts everyone's interactions with Juliette.
The film does try to do a lot in a short time. The film is not even two hours (close) but it tries to broach all aspects of Juliette's rehabilitation, which can come off feelings a bit stuffed in parts. I wish that more time was spent on each aspect of her life. You have her dealing with family, with work and with a new love interest, let alone her grappling with her crime. It's a lot of fully flesh out, and I don't know if the film does all that it needed to in that regard. I also have an issue with the ending. You spend the whole film aching for an answer to that haunting question, and when you get it you (or at least `I') find it rather predictable and unrewarding. Not that anything would be `rewarding' in this case, but I would have preferred `no answer' to `this answer'.
Performance wise, Kristin Scott Thomas is a revelation.
Really, she literally blew me away. First off, she looks aged, slightly bloated and very, very tired. Yes, makeup has something to do with that, but her aura is very much defeated, which only aids in her expressions. The way she flirts with words is stunning, her mind forming thoughts that her mouth refuses to speak. Her sharp outbursts are sudden, unexpected and wholly believable. Her near bitter resentment is understandable and haunting. Her grief is undeniable. You feel everything she feels, and you understand why. Even in her breakdown at the end, where the `reveal' is made (the one that I didn't like), she completely sells it, never once going `too far' in her dramatics.
She is simple flawless.
The rest of the cast is serviceable, some better than others. I thought that Frederic Pierrot was sensational (his character turn still plagues me) and I liked what Laurent Grevill did with his sadly underwritten character (this film needed to be at least another thirty minutes in length...maybe even another hour). Personally, I felt that Elsa Zylberstein and Serge Hazanavicius made very little out of their GOLDMINE characters. I understand that the script didn't write in a lot for them to do (again, this film should have been longer in order to cover much more) but she seemed almost afraid to really embrace their characters, and when Elsa did `reach' she came across as almost fake.
In the end, I have to say I was very pleased. It could have been better, but it is far better than I expected. All that you've heard about Thomas here is correct. She is utterly outstanding. 2008 was a banner year for Leading Actresses (even if the Academy's ballot included Streep's hamming and Jolie's screaming). Between Winslet, Williams, Hawkins, Janssen, Hathaway and Thomas, I struggle to decide just WHO was the best.
Let's call it a six-way tie!
Movie Review: impressive debut feature
Summary: 4 Stars
Kristin Scott Thomas gives a beautifully controlled and radiant performance in "I've Loved You So Long," playing the role of a middle-aged woman who has just spent the last fifteen years of her life in prison for murdering her six-year-old son. Now paroled, Juliette has temporarily moved in with the only family still left to her: her much younger sister, Lea; Lea's husband, Luc; and their two adopted daughters. Readjusting to life on the outside is difficult for Juliette, since she has pretty much built an emotional and psychological wall between herself and the world around her. Slowly, however, thanks to the tender ministrations of her sister and the older of her two nieces, Juliette begins, ever so cautiously, to find her way back into that world.
Given its sensationalistic subject matter, "I've Loved You So Long" could easily have devolved into overwrought histrionics or melodrama. Instead, first time director Philippe Claudel (who also wrote the screenplay) has taken a more subdued, character-oriented approach to the material, holding his cards close to the vest, allowing the details of this woman`s past to emerge slowly and by degrees. As such, Juliette remains something of an enigma throughout the course of the movie - intriguing us all the more and drawing us ever deeper into her character. In fact, the people in her life don`t know much more about her than we do, since she was arrested when Lea was still a teen (their parents refused to acknowledge Juliette's existence after her conviction and forbade Lea from having anything to do with her) and Juliette has never revealed to anyone - not even her own ex-husband - the motive for her heinous crime.
As the buttoned-down Juliette, Thomas manages to convey a wealth of meaning through the subtlest of facial expressions and gestures, while Elsa Zylberstein makes for a perfect foil as the openhearted kid sister. In his premiere work as a director, Claudel demonstrates remarkable restraint and control, allowing the material to unfold at an appropriately deliberate and unhurried pace, never feeling the need to push a point or to overstate the obvious. He also reveals a fine eye for detail and composition, resulting in a very clean, uncluttered look for the film. But it is his work with actors - drawing from them performances of great depth and beauty - that most distinguishes his filmmaking here.
Movie Review: Brilliant acting - best to watch without reviews
Summary: 4 Stars
As others have written, the acting was brilliant. I was lucky because I reserved this DVD at my local library and forgot why until I started watching. Ideally people will watch this film without reading any reviews. So be warned! And I do talk about the ending.
The plot premise is intriguing. A woman is released from prison after 15 years. She moves in temporarily with her sister's loving family. On one level, the movie shows how hard it an be for prisoners to return to society even with a strong support system. It also shows how painful stereoypes can be. As soon as people hear that she was convicted of murder, they block out everything else.
I was totally captivated by the story, but even during the film, I had some nagging doubts. After 15 years in prison, I would expect the heroine to be dazed. But although her face seems lined and she looks tired, she doesn't seem to have trouble adjusting to life "outside," beyond a few skirmishes that would occur with anyone who moves in with in-laws. Her hair is healthy and nicely cut. She holds her own at a dinner party that I, for one, would find exhausting.
I also share the questions raised by other reviewers. Somewhere along the movie, I began to wonder if something was amiss. Was she covering up for the real murderer? Would we discover the murderer never happened?
From what I've read, some people do feel horrendous guilt and even want to go to prison, as the heroine said. We aren't told the name of the illness the child had. But I would expect an autopsy would reveal the child's illness and then would raise questions about why she killed him. I can imagine this woman saying nothing at first, as a strong emotional reaction. Surely she would have had some kind of treatment in prison. She would have been vilifed by the other prisoners, many of whom were mothers.
So bottom line, I can't imagine that the circumstances of the death would be kept hidden. I can see why the heroine would feel an irrational sense of guilt and a desire to keep silent but I don't see how she could. Anyway, it seems that other doctors would have pointed out that she didn't have to confess to murder. She could find a way to administer an overdose of pain medicine, once the child began to show symptoms. Ultimately it's a brilliant psychological study based on an improbable premise.