There’s an incredibly deep and rich humanity in Philippe Claudel’s directorial debut, “I’ve Loved You So Long.”
A soulful and extremely moving portrait of the seemingly limitless, and incontestable bonds of sibling love, the ugliness of family dark secrets and the hope of personal rebirth, ‘Loved You So Long’ is anchored by the devastating performance of Kristin Scott Thomas. It’s a turn so magnificent and affecting, its one of those rare non-English language roles that transcends its foreign ghetto (like Marion Cotillard’s “La Vie En Rose,” generally a unusual feat).
Commanding cinema reflects something back truthful and honest, and this picture wrecked us, almost took us to a primordial place about life: the basics, love, death and perhaps the only thing that really matters — family.
Scott plays Juliette, a woman just released from prison after 15 years for the murder of her six-year-old son. Her younger sister Lea (terrifically played with tenderness and empathy by Elsa Zylberstein) is the only one still waiting for her. Their parents denounced Juliette going as far as telling new friends that they only had one daughter and commanding old ones never to speak of her again, but Lea persuades a reluctant Juliette to move in with her family until she’s back on her feet.
Her readjustment to society, and normal life is desolating. Scott walks around aimlessly like a hollow shell, not being able to tolerate her sister adopted children (adorable Vietnamese girls), or the judging eyes of potential work-release employees — many of whom can’t stomach her crime.
With the aide of a sympathetic parole officer — a wounded soul who recognizes another — and one of Lea’s teacher friend who taught at a prison and also recognizes those whose hope has been grayed out in their eyes, Juliette begins to slowly and tentatively acclimate herself to life outside prison (tellingly, she barely wears any make-up in the film until towards the end and her costume design is fittingly flat and colorless).
But habituating proves to be difficult, Juliette is a rock-hard shell of silence, Lea’s husband is near hostile to her presence and job opportunities are few and rare.
The too accommodating younger sibling tries to shut down all talk and questioning of Juliette’s whereabouts for the last fifteen years, but even her act of protection becomes another layer and wall to overcome; a lie that makes the grander fraudulence even more cheap. Juliette wanders around painfully aware that getting too close means instant abhorrence and ostracizing if anyone learns her secret. She’s felt it too many times.
But all good family secrets must come out in the end, mustn’t they? (the film’s only semi-remotely predictable note). How she and her new family deals, will make or break her newfound, relatively comfortable existence. Thankfully, “I’ve Loved You So Long,” doesn’t deign to play itself out as a mystery. What happened to Juliette is a side-dish to a story about a humanistic regeneration, a second chance and a tremendously poignant tale about true familial love, affection and resilience.
Watching KST slowly and naturally transform throughout the film is a wonderful experience of inches and tentative steps. It’s a heartbreaking and acutely three-dimensional portrayal full of chipped edges, grace, unseemly self-protective moves and caution thrown to the wind. Man, first-time director Claudel, really did something to gain her trust and faith, cause she is in it, full-on. Ultimately, “I’ve Loved You So Long” asks us how much must we suffer for our crimes and are there transgressions we can never overcome? It also shows us how one person’s truth withheld can complicate the lives of others. Universally touching and though it is deserving of an Oscar it probably won’t get one. [A+]
BTW. Anne Thompson is also giving major props to Kristin Scott Thomas. The performance really slayed us emotionally. We’re eagerly anticipating, “Australia,” too, but there’s no way Nicole Kidman can compete here. Then again, it’s never about anything other than politics.