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70 out of 83 people found the following review useful: Quietly Exploding, 15 October 2008 Author: Jane Mullins (janemullinsuk@yahoo.co.uk) from United Kingdom
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.
61 out of 74 people found the following review useful: Is this Scott Thomas's greatest role?, 21 April 2008 Author: rogerkuin from France
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.
52 out of 65 people found the following review useful: This movie hits the emotional spot with great precision., 4 April 2008 Author: bart-depoortere from Belgium
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.
38 out of 43 people found the following review useful: You must see this film if you consider yourself a lover of great art., 22 October 2008 Author: arlendean from United States
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
35 out of 42 people found the following review useful: Wonderful, 14 September 2008 Author: kil-10 from Zurich, Switzerland
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.
32 out of 40 people found the following review useful: French movie-making at its best, 10 October 2008 Author: rogerdarlington from United Kingdom
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.
24 out of 28 people found the following review useful: Full of pathos and charm, 7 January 2009 Author: Trevar Chilver from Australia
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.
24 out of 30 people found the following review useful: Excellent, 5 October 2008 Author: AndrewPhillips from United Kingdom
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.
23 out of 29 people found the following review useful: Understated brilliance, 16 December 2008 Author: richard-1967 from United States
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!
24 out of 31 people found the following review useful: Moving Forwards, 4 October 2008 Author: i-burgess1 from United Kingdom
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.
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