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I've Loved You So Long (Il y a longtemps que je t'aime) (2008)
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Movie Review by Ben
June 23rd, 2009
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Kristin Scott Thomas gives an incredible performance as Juliette Fontaine in "I've Loved You So Long," and it was far and away one of the best performances given by any actor in 2008. Perhaps best known for her role in "The English Patient," Kristin more than inhabits a character who is forever trapped by a moment in time that no one around her will ever let go of. With this role, it's the moments where she doesn't say anything that speak volumes. While she does not try to make the character likable or remotely warm, her eyes speak of a pain that will never heal, and she remains empathetic throughout.
When we first meet up with Juliette, she is sitting in an airport, smoking the first of many cigarettes she will smoke throughout the movie's running time (the film is French), waiting to be picked up by her younger sister Lea. We soon find out that Juliette has just been released from prison after 15 years, and later on we find out that she had murdered her own son. The details of this unspeakable crime remain murky to those who want to get closer to her, and the movie spends its time peeling back the layers of how and why it occurred. To know everything that happened at the start of the film would have made it nowhere as interesting.
The time she spent in prison has more than hardened Juliette to the world around her, and she is not looking to make new friendships. Her parents have completely disowned her because of what she did, and Lea's husband Luc does not want Juliette around their adopted children. Being fully aware of what she has done, Luc does not trust Juliette in the slightest. But Juliette is more than prepared for this reaction from others and fully expects it too, so she starts off by pushing people away. She sees this chance reuniting with her younger sister as something forced on her, and she makes that clear to Lea early on. But Lea is keen on being there for Juliette regardless of what she has been led to believe about her. There is clearly more to Juliette than meets the eye, and the movie has us following her all the way to a startling revelation.
There's not enough that can be said about Kirstin's performance in "I've Loved You So Long." It is a performance that doesn't just call attention to herself, and it illustrates how the most subtle of actions can be the most powerful. Regardless of how determined Juliette is in alienating those who try to get closer to her, there is a need in her eyes that cries out to be understood even if she doesn't want to admit it. She draws us into the life of a character that, from a distance, we would immediately despise based on her crime. But the writer/director of "I've Loved You So Long" creates a film where we want to spend time with her and the people around her so that we can come to an understanding of why she would commit such a horrendous deed. It also shows that what we say about what she was convicted ends up defining who we are as people let alone individuals. Life is a big pain in that ass that way.
Kristin is also perfectly matched with Elsa Zylberstein who plays Juliette's sister Lea. Her character has been told different things about Juliette, most of them understandably negative, but she sees Juliette as someone deserving of her support. In the end, they are family, and Lea's family is really the only one that Juliette has left. Elsa creates a strong female character who stands her ground in what she believes, and while Juliette pushes her away, Lea remains fiercely protective of her.
The film was written and directed by Philippe Claudel who is a novelist who wrote "Grey Souls," a book about the murder of a young girl in a small French town. Philippe seems very interested not only in uncovering the mystery of such a horrific crime, but in the effect it has on the people who live in proximity to what occurred. Juliette's sister Lea is desperate to keep her crime a secret from her friends as she fears Juliette will immediately be ostracized. While some are completely repelled at Juliette for what she did, the reactions of a few others are very interesting as they have been exposed to lives in prison in a whole other way. Juliette does strike up a nice friendship with one of Lea's professor friends who sees her in a whole different light after her admission of what she did. While others might turn away from her, he comes across as sympathetic as he knows that experiencing what happens behind bars is never something you can walk away from.
Philippe gives the movie a very natural setting to where it feels like you are seeing a reality unfolding before you. You never just feel like you are watching a movie when you see "I've Loved You So Long." Most other movies like this (particularly American ones) tend to play up the operatic emotions of the story to where you can feel like you are just being mercilessly manipulated. But as a director, Philippe makes you a witness to what is going on, and he never forces you to have the same judgments of Julia that others do. Indeed, he shows how there is more to people and events than what is on the surface, and he gives us an intriguing movie that has us wanting to know more about its main character.
The movie also has a nice yet sparse music score by Jean-Louis Aubert which is mainly him playing his electric guitar. The simple chords that Jean-Louis produces easily and powerfully illustrate the complex emotions embedded in each of the characters, especially Juliette whose process of re-entering a world that sees her more as a devil than a person we know will be no easy task. It captures the pain in her eyes which betrays her true feelings that have haunted her for so very long. A lot of movies like these typically overdo it with an emotionally overwhelming orchestral score designed to pull at our heartstrings to make us feel a certain way. It almost sounds like shock therapy the more you think about it. So it's nice to see a composer simply illustrate the emotions that are already in front of us on the big screen instead of just forcing us to feel what is already there.
"I've Loved You So Long" is a French movie that of course didn't get much of a release as is the case with foreign movies here. It's definitely worth a rental if you are interested in more dramatic fare and great performances. It is now out on DVD, so check it out when you have the chance if you haven't already.
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