ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies

MORE THAN ten years after her Hollywood heyday, Kristin Scott Thomas is finding some of the best roles of her career on stage and screen. She gives a superlative, Oscar-worthy performance in I’ve Loved You So Long (Il y a Longtemps Que Je T’aime) a sombre, slow-burning drama that builds into a touching tale of guilt and reconciliation.

Scott Thomas plays Juliette. She returns to her home town of Nancy in north-east France after a long, mysterious absence. It’s all too easy to guess where she might have been and the film gradually reveals everything about her past.

More important is the relationship it depicts with her younger sister Lea (Elsa Zylberstein), who welcomes her into her home and tries to build bridges. Juliette has little to say and gives every impression of wanting to be left alone. Her emotional anguish is conveyed in haunted stares and nervous movements that make dialogue unnecessary.

The heart of the film is the way in which Juliette starts to reconnect with other people as she finds a job, makes a friend, builds a more trusting relationship with Lea and eventually has the confidence to face the crippling guilt of her past actions.

Writer/director Philippe Claudel creates a very intimate, almost claustrophobic tale eschewing grand gestures or empty melodrama to focus on the very human elements of this family story. There is an elegant precision to his direction and although the film requires some patience it rewards the viewer with a touching, beautifully acted story of suffering and transcendence.

Selected nationwide release

Director: Philippe Claudel
Cast: Kristin Scott Thomas, Elsa Zylberstein, Serge Hazanavicius, Laurent Grevil, Frederic Pierrot
Screenwriter: Philippe Claudel
Certificate: 12A
Running time: 108 mins
Country: France
Year: 2007