{"id":1817,"date":"2009-06-21T20:18:48","date_gmt":"2009-06-22T00:18:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/?p=1817"},"modified":"2022-10-22T09:18:27","modified_gmt":"2022-10-22T13:18:27","slug":"ive-loved-you-so-long","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/ive-loved-you-so-long\/","title":{"rendered":"Kristin Scott Thomas is unshowy but brilliant in Philippe Claudel’s I’ve Loved You So Long"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Writer \/ director Philippe Claudel’s I’ve Loved You So Long<\/em> is a textbook exercise in the dramatic withholding of narrative information. Juliette (Kristin Scott Thomas) is released from prison after serving 15 years for an unspecified crime, and is unwillingly housed with her sister L\u00e9a (Elsa Zylberstein). L\u00e9a is initially her only ally, and her husband Luc (Serge Hazanavicius) is distrustful for what turns out to be very good reason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

L\u00e9a and Luc have adopted two children (a big clue to the central mystery of the movie), including their precocious older daughter P’tit Lys (Lise S\u00e9gur, a rare movie tyke that is actually endearing). As part of her probation, Juliette is required to sign in weekly with a lonely cop (Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Pierrot) with even more psychological issues than she. The slow drip of information ramps up the drama, but we’re told just enough to see that the movie is actually about Juliette’s gradual, sometimes painful reentry into life, not her mysterious crime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Elsa
Elsa Zylberstein and Kristen Scott Thomas in I’ve Loved You So Long<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Thomas’s unshowy performance is acting of the highest degree. The British actress already proved her fluency in French in Tell No One<\/em><\/a>, although a line of dialogue here explains away her accent. She doesn’t distract by inviting the audience to be constantly impressed at how talented she is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that said, there were a few moments where I marveled at the complex emotions she conveyed. Two scenes in particular stand out: Juliette almost physically recoils when introduced to L\u00e9a’s colleague Michel (Laurent Gr\u00e9vill) and when reunited with her estranged mother. Also watch for the almost indescribably complex expression that plays across her face when she meets a sleazy bloke in a pub shortly after her release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Elsa
Elsa Zylberstein and Kristen Scott Thomas in I’ve Loved You So Long<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Only two factors kept me from considering the movie more highly. There’s a seemingly extraneous and unresolved subplot about L\u00e9a ignoring a student who appears to have a crush on her, and claims he’s a subject of prejudice. Was the point merely that L\u00e9a is an attractive, sympathetic person? Secondly, the movie arguably descends into talky melodrama at the very end; without revealing too much, we learn the truth about what motivated Juliette’s crime, and why she stubbornly kept her silence for so long.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Writer \/ director Philippe Claudel’s I’ve Loved You So Long is a textbook exercise in the dramatic withholding of narrative information. Juliette (Kristin Scott Thomas) is released from prison after serving 15 years for an unspecified crime, and is unwillingly housed with her sister L\u00e9a (Elsa Zylberstein). L\u00e9a is initially her only ally, and her […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4563,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,2],"tags":[46,556,39,180,558,555,557],"class_list":["post-1817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-4-stars","category-movies","tag-drama","tag-elsa-zylberstein","tag-france","tag-kristin-scott-thomas","tag-lise-segur","tag-philippe-claudel","tag-serge-hazanavicius"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/ive-loved-you-so-long-featured.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa9lhB-tj","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1022,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/ne-le-dis-a-personne-tell-no-one\/","url_meta":{"origin":1817,"position":0},"title":"Le fugitif: Guillaume Canet’s Ne le dis \u00e0 personne (Tell No One)","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"August 29, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Guillaume Canet's\u00a0Ne le dis \u00e0 personne (Tell No One) enjoyed a surprisingly wide US theatrical release for a French film without huge English-speaking stars (except for Englishwoman Kristin Scott Thomas, perfectly fluent in French). Roger Ebert rightly compared the tightly crafted thriller with The Fugitive, placing it squarely in Hitchcockian\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "3 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"3 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/3-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/tell-no-one-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/tell-no-one-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/tell-no-one-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/tell-no-one-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/tell-no-one-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6443,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/rutger-hauer-lives-on-anxiety-coffee-and-chocolate-in-split-second\/","url_meta":{"origin":1817,"position":1},"title":"Rutger Hauer lives on anxiety, coffee, and chocolate, in Split Second","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"October 17, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"?? Tag yourself: \"He lives on anxiety, coffee, and chocolate.\" It me; can relate. Tony Maylam's Split Second is probably forever doomed to be a cult favorite, but it's a pity it's not better known. It has a wild, sometimes even manic electricity that covers up most deficiencies. I happened\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"2 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/2-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Split Second","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/split-second-poster.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/split-second-poster.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/split-second-poster.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/split-second-poster.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/split-second-poster.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1756,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/quarantine\/","url_meta":{"origin":1817,"position":2},"title":"John Erick Dowdle’s Zombie Fauxmentary Quarantine","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"May 12, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Quarantine, remade by director John Erick Dowdle (co-written with brother Drew) from the Spanish movie REC (2007), follows in the now-firmly established horror fauxmentary tradition. 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Jane","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/g-i-jane-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/g-i-jane-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/g-i-jane-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/g-i-jane-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/g-i-jane-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1721,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/happy-go-lucky\/","url_meta":{"origin":1817,"position":4},"title":"Sally Hawkins Finds a New Opportunity in Every Setback in Mike Leigh’s Happy-Go-Lucky","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"April 19, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Poppy (Sally Hawkins) is a creature rarely encountered in movies and even less often in real life: someone genuinely happy. She's not bothered by others' life goals; at 30, she doesn't have a baby or a boyfriend, own a house, or know how to drive, and none of these concerns\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "4 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"4 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/4-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sally Hawkins in Happy Go Lucky","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/happy-go-lucky-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/happy-go-lucky-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/happy-go-lucky-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/happy-go-lucky-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/happy-go-lucky-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5763,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/ridley-scott-and-cormac-mccarthy-make-an-odd-couple-in-the-counselor\/","url_meta":{"origin":1817,"position":5},"title":"Ridley Scott and Cormac McCarthy make an odd couple in The Counselor","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"October 25, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Cormac McCarthy and Ridley Scott were bound to be an odd couple in any case. All the richly composed and poetic dialogue in the world doesn't disguise the fact The Counselor is basically a grimy, scuzzy, sleazy, feel-bad potboiler. 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