User reviews

Looking at Kristen Scott Thomas I thought of Julie Christie, Ingrid Bergman, Helen Mirren, Liv Ullman and a number of other actresses that managed to be transparent on the screen. Transparent in the best sense of the word, meaning we could actually see the invisible. Two sisters, a husband, two adopted Asian girls and a past, a recent past an overwhelming past painted black but with a white coat of compassion. Fame novelist turned film director Philip Claudel's debut is surprising to say the least.His assured hand and sensibility makes me want to see his next opus with a certain amount of trepidation. Scott Thomas's performance is among the very best I've seen all year.

I found that this film stayed with me for a few days after I'd seen it. The film shows some strange behaviours which are resolved as the story unfolds (e.g., the initial attitude of the brother-in-law which seems both heartless towards his sister-in-law and insensitive towards his wife). The portrayal of the relationship of the sisters is well done while the development of the relationship between Scott-Thomas and Greville is beautifully drawn - in a way that only French directors manage; the smallest gestures having deep meaning. I thought the direction of the older child was nothing short of outstanding - that is how articulate 7 to 8 year old children behave. I think that this is a life-affirming film despite the obvious losses. There is both a literal and symbolic birth.

This film has been crafted almost to perfection, the touch used is delicate and very realistic. It is interesting that such a slow pace should be so engrossing but it is. Thanks I think to the brilliant acting from everyone. Kirstin Scott Thomas stands out for such an understated performance, that when she does towards the end of the film show such deep emotion you are blown away. Her co stars do a great job keeping up with her, specifically Elsa Zylberstein playing her sister,the woman can cry on demand a face full of expression. Frederic Pierrot as the policeman, whose brilliance is only realised at the end of his part of the story. Jean Claude Arnaud as the grandfather, who without saying a word through the whole film is masterful. There could be a danger that this film is seen as a trudge through human emotion but I can assure you it is more than that. You will leave the cinema for filled and uplifted by the whole experience.

Just had the pleasure of seeing this movie in a cinema and I can wholeheartedly recommend it.

The movie touches several very sensitive subjects in a careful and a non-judging way; it left me thinking deeply about the rules of our society, and what happens if one falls through the raster; if what one has done does not fit into the view of the majority and one's actions are not compatible with the rules that society has given itself.

There are scenes that made me laugh, others leaving me absorbed in thought, all the while realising: this is life as it is, sometimes wonderful, sometimes brutal and sad.

The acting is brilliant in my view, the film lives from Kristin Scott Thomas and Elsa Zylberstein, both seem to be made for the characters they play while the rest of the cast, even for the smallest part, seems to have been carefully picked as well. Both actors and director describe the making of the movie as a very interesting experience, something I don't doubt at all after seeing it.

If you get a chance to see the movie, do it. It's worth it.

This movie succeeds in presenting believable characters through life-like dialogs and superior acting. Despite its heavy emotional load, it never degrades into a tear-jerker. Perhaps it makes a difference whether you are a parent yourself as a viewer, I could not tell, but after returning home, I did feel like giving the kids a loving cuddle. This movie will linger for a while in my mind. It seems to me that Philippe Claudel is not just a very observing novelist, but also a good director, capable of a lot of empathy with the human condition. Anyone looking for light entertainment should stay out of the movie theater where this movie is playing, but if you are interested in a subtle emphatic presentation of characters, you should not miss this.

This is one of those films that, the less you know about it in advance, the more you are likely to appreciate it - which makes reviewing it a little problematic. All you really need to know is that it's French and excellent. But you might like to know that it's a wonderful vehicle for Kristin Scott Thomas, the British actress married to a Frenchman, who plays Juliette, an Anglo-French woman with some dark and painful secrets which only slowly unfold as the narrative takes its traumatic course. The movie opens and closes with close-ups of her haunted face and, in between, she is rarely off the screen in a marvellously nuanced performance, well supported by Elsa Zylberstein who plays her younger sister Léa. Written and directed by Philippe Claudel, this is French movie-making at its best.

There is a lot to love in Philippe Claudel's film 'I've Loved You So Long'. This is a completely character driven film which has little to do with plot and story progression. Juliette remains a fascinating character throughout the film due to her past actions. Claudel keeps the viewer intrigued about getting to know why she did what she did in her past life. The character moments of her bonding with her sister Lea after a long spell of alienation while Lea's husband remains somewhat apprehensive felt very natural and intimate. Juliette's scenes with Lea and Luc's daughters were also executed with the right amount of intimacy and complexity.

Kristin Scott's Thomas' performance is probably the best thing in the entire film. She is playing a character who has not been able to forgive herself for her actions. The pain, the guilt and the suffering is completely visible in her eyes, her face and her expressions. She plays the role of a broken character who has been given an opportunity to start afresh after being released from prison, but Thomas' detached and restrained demeanour shows us perfectly that Juliette might have been released from prison, but she has not been able to get over her past and forgive herself. She slowly begins to loosen up as the film progresses to try to move on and restart her life. Elsa Zylberstein also deserves a mention. She puts a lot of humanity in the character of Lea giving her a sensitive layer.

The direction is restrained and non-flashy which I think is the best way to approach a mature and immensely personal subject such as this. Claudel allows the actors/characters to take center stage instead of using directorial flourishes that draw attention. Once or twice, he will slowly zoom into a character's face to pick up a particular transition in expression or use a meticulously framed shot to imply a bigger theme. There is one distinctive long take in the film which is very well executed. We move from one part of the house to another in the uninterrupted shot and Claudel gently shows the transition of the mood from pleasant to awkward and back to pleasant again during that one single take. The stripped down, raw manner in which the main characters are explored is a bit reminiscent of Mike Leigh, while the awkwardness that engulfs certain other scenes are Haneke-esque.

However, I think the film has its flaws too which are mostly in its script. There are a few individual scenes in the film that felt very weak and clichéd like the scene with the arm dislocation or the scene with the discussion on Dostoyevsky or even the manner in which a co-incidence is used to make Lea aware of the facts that led Juliette to do what she did in the past. These scenes felt rushed, underdeveloped and a bit out of place from the rest of the film. They don't damage the film completely, but they certainly do stick out in a big way.

Overall, 'I've Loved You So Long' is a good film with a fantastic performance from Kristin Scott Thomas. The conflict and the theme of the film is very intimate and relatable. Philippe Claudel's direction is mature, but the writing in some scenes is a bit weak. But it certainly should be recommended.

While I've never been such a Philistine as to decline to see a film because it is in an unknown language and I'd have to read the subtitles, there is usually a sense of emotional distance when you have to read the words yourself. In the case of 'I've Loved You So Long', I felt no such distance. Indeed, this is the first time I've cried in a movie since... I don't know when. Sure, I am a callous bastard, but I often find myself moved by a film, only, rarely do I find myself as moved as I was by this one.

'I've Loved You So Long' focuses on the story of Juliette Fontaine coming from prison to live with her sister, who was a young adolescent when she was incarcerated. The tensions of living with an extended family are exacerbated by Juliette's personality, which it is accepted is altered by her time in gaol. Philippe Claudel's story is beautifully structured to release just as much information as is necessary to keep you interested, while retaining just enough mystery to keep you on the edge of your seat.

I have never seen a French film that I haven't liked, but I have also never seen a French film of this calibre. It is an outstanding piece of storytelling, full of pathos and charm.

Claudel provides a lesson for American film makers and a lasting pleasure for the audience. The cast is evenly excellent with Kristin Scott Thomas and Elsa Zylberstein the personifications of things felt and not said to siblings. It is such a pleasure to watch actors and actresses who look like people instead of an eight by ten glossy of themselves. Serge Hazanaviciius, Laurent Grevil, Frederic Pierrot, Jean-Claude Amaud and little Lise Se'gur form a perfect framework for the two stars. With no special effects and little background music, the viewer can concentrate on the slow peeling of layer after layer of revelation. The beauty revealed at its core is the result of action, not an attempt to tie up loose ends nor a deus ex machina. Snar

This may be the film that makes Kristin Scott Thomas's reputation as not a good actress but a great one. It is a French film, and one has to accept the parameters of French 'intimisme'; as such it is wonderful. It is not a question of being a parent or not: it's a question of being ready or not to be swept out of one's daily self by great acting. Elsa Zylberstein is a fine actress (I remember her with affection in 'Farinelli'), but Scott Thomas here surpasses anything she has done before. She is capable, we knew, of making herself nearly ugly ('Angels and Insects'); she can do understated sensitivity ('Four Weddings and a Funeral'); here she gets a part of the emotional power of a Medea or a Phaedra and plays it with the let-it-rip force of a great tragédienne. The film is a vehicle for an actress, and none the worse for that. It is not unworthy of her, and that may be the best one can say of Claudel's work; but that may just be enough. There was a curiously fugitive quality to KST's interviews about this film: one got the impression she didn't really want to talk about it in more than mundane depth. One can see why. It all goes very near the bone. She may want to do a sheer glorious comedy next, just to remind us all of the blithe side of her nature. Long may she live, and work.

Last night I watched this brilliant movie for the third time. I can't actually get enough of Ms. Kristin Scott Thomas' performance in this movie. She performs as a rich and complex character in this film. Cinema fans know her from her outstanding performance in "The English Patient (1996)" for which she was nominated as the best leading actress in Academy Awards. 12 years after that performance, in 2008, she beautifully played the role of a woman, better to say a human, who came out of the jail and struggled to be accepted in the society as well as in her own family. It's not just that, the movie has some sense of mystery and little by little the story behind Juliette's, Kristin Scott Thomas', actions and behaviours unfolds itself. She has her own weaknesses, strengths, fears and sorrows. Artfully, Philippe Claudel, the director shows every little details of her changing moods and emotions. I highly recommend this movie for anyone who loves to see a good French movie with some magnificent acting.

Oliver Stone fans beware: This movie doesn't knock you over the head. Everything is understated, from the screenplay, to the way the movie is shot, to the understated performances. Best is the Oscar-winning (that's a prediction!) Kirsten Scott-Thomas. Her nuanced and deep performance says so much more about her character than any other mode of presentation.

It's interesting that KST has done better with her French roles than her English-speaking ones. Perhaps it's the nature of her material. Perhaps it's that as a second language, French allows her face and body to do much of the acting. The subtle changes in her character from beginning to end is as nuanced as the movie, but discernible and clear, made more believable by the way KST takes us there.

As for the closing denouement, without spoiling: Does it really matter why she was gone, what she did, or why she did it? This film rightly focused us on her as a person with a past, rather than what the past was.

Il y'a longtemps que j'ai vu un film francais si bon!

All the actors/actresses in "I've Loved You So Long" are uniformly wonderful. Kristin Scott Thomas was truly fine, as was the superb Elsa Zylberstein. My favorite actor in this film, though, was Frederic Pierrot. His portrayal of a policeman who is desperate for companionship was excellent, and I think he made his character the most interesting person in the film.

Nevertheless, the plot itself is just too artificial for my taste. The film has pretensions of depth without actually having any depth. I won't go so far as to call it a middle-class soap opera, but that wouldn't be far off.

Greetings again from the darkness. It is difficult to imagine a more heinous crime than killing one's own child. Writer/director Phillippe Claudel understands this and certainly uses it to his advantage in the film.

Count me onboard with the hoopla surrounding Kristin Scott Thomas' performance. She exudes isolation, inner turmoil and loneliness. Watching her ever-so-slow return to civilization is realistic and painful ... both for her and the viewer. Her physical looks (dowdy and dreary with dark circles); her mannerisms (always clutching and covering up); and her speech (mostly grunts, nods and monosyllabic answers) combine for a terrific dramatic turn.

I found it most interesting how she was initially drawn towards the police captain, who turned out to be as miserable as she; and the grandfather, who could only communicate through post it notes. Her small shots of comfort came through these most unusual sources, at least until she began to trust life again.

Elsa Zylberstein (one of the worst screen names) is not garnering much attention for her critical role as Juliette's sister. Personally, I thought she was outstanding and very believable as the guilt-ridden sister trying so hard to make amends, while still tending to the every day pressures of career, motherhood, and care-taking of her husband and his father.

The problem I have with the film is that the story line basically seems improbable at best, an incredulous at worst. I just don't understand how the killing of her son and the subsequent trial could have come off the way it supposedly did. The fact that the reveal occurs very near the end of the film leads me to believe that Mr. Claudel felt much the same way. A must see for KST performance, but you will need to get over the basis for her imprisonment.

This was a beautifully acted film in the French style which means that the characters are meticulously crafted, the story unfolds leisurely to allow the characters to develop naturally. Nothing appears artificial, unlike a Hollywood film which would have tested plot points inserted. The camera work was terrific; the colors were warm and natural (again unlike the garish, over the top colors of many Hollywood films). There was not an actor or actress that appeared false, even the oldest child did a wonderful job. My one complaint is that the story is built on a contrivance - a married woman faced with a crisis, who apparently decides to handle it completely on her own, keeping it secret from her husband and her sister, and then remaining silent about it, and silent, for years.

I saw this movie when it came out in the UK a few weeks ago, having not read any reviews. I approached it very favourably. Quite clearly, it is hard not to be moved by the story throughout, but at the same time, I would also probably shed a tear in front of cheesy US melodramas shown on afternoon TV. If you know anything about cinema and appreciate good film-making, be prepared for an utter disaster. Everybody is raving about the acting. Well, there is no doubt that Kristin Scott Thomas gives a great performance and is rather impressive. But that is as far as it goes. The other actors totally over-act, starting with Elsa Zylberstein and the husband. The scene where she loses the plot with her students is as best risible, at worst cringe-worthy. As for him, he constantly over-does it and he is just not believable. I think these things might escape to those who are not native French speakers or fluent. Secondly, the plot is simply not plausible. No one would spend 15 years behind bars for this. The way it is filmed is at times particularly awful as well. One of the talents of the greatest directors is to suggest things. Here, nothing is suggested, everything is told very explicitly. For example, throughout the film, Juliette gradually earns her respectability badges and it is shown in the least subtle way. She goes from bad guy (rejected, shouted at, etc) to model auntie and employee (well almost). Where is the subtlety?!! The scenes of the weekend in the country are simply atrocious - tear-inducing stuff, it's so bad. Even Hollywood is refraining from serving such cheesy stuff nowadays. But no, here you get double helpings of it all along. Sorry, that is not good cinema. As for the music, I hold Jean Louis Aubert in relatively high esteem, but the soundtrack is suspiciously reminiscent of Jeff Buckley's sound. Just a thought.

By all means, do see this movie, but try to put the raw emotion on one side and be a bit more objective about the poor quality of the film, as a piece of cinema. To me, it has way too many short-comings and serious flaws to be a good movie.