I've Loved You So Long Kristin Scott Thomas, Elsa Zylberstein, Serge Hazanavicius Director: Philippe Claudel
Much good could be said of Philippe Claudel's directorial debut - his wonderful mise-en-scene, for example, or a screenplay (also written by Claudel) that expands on the characters and their back stories with subtlety and grace.
But I've Loved You So Long is one of the most captivating films to have come out in the past year because of one thing: a stunning performance by Kristin Scott Thomas (below left) as Juliette Fontaine, a woman coming to terms with her new life - and her past - after spending 15 years in jail for killing her son.
It's a highly nuanced turn. Juliette struggles to contend with her overwhelmingly doting younger sister Lea (Elsa Zylberstein), her sister's suspicious husband Luc (Serge Hazanavicius), their loving and trusting adopted daughter Lys (Lise Segur), and the empathy and romantic attentions of Lea's colleague Michel (Laurent Grevill), a former prison vocational teacher who identifies with her.
Claudel is masterful in telling Juliette's story through the tension-filled scenes she shares not only with her newfound family and friends, but also the police officer in charge of her parole case, her psychologist, and the supervisor and colleagues at her new job as a secretary in the local hospital. Scott Thomas' performance is superb throughout. She releases her pent-up emotions only gradually, the cracking of her distant demeanour reflecting her difficulty adjusting to strange new terrains in both geographical (she joins Lea in Nancy in eastern France, but was brought up and incarcerated in the south) and psychological terms.
Extras: Interviews with director and crew; deleted scenes with commentary by Claudel.