Second Chances

My friends Cori and Michelle are big fans of Kristin Scott Thomas, but I always found her icy and brittle. Tell No One began to change my mind - I had no idea she could be overtly sexy - and I've Loved You So Long made me appreciate her in a way I hadn't before. I'd really like to see her receive an Academy Award nomination for this performance. It's less likely, but I'd also like to see her co-star, Elsa Zylberstein, get a Supporting Actress nod.

I've Loved You So Long would make a worthy companion piece with Rachel Getting Married: difficult, well-acted stories of redemption featuring multiple fantastic female performances.

Instead of making a woman-in-prison drama, writer/director Philippe Claudel examines a return to life on the outside in I’ve Loved You So Long. With his debut feature, Claudel employs Kristin Scott Thomas’ misused reserve to stunning effect and introduces many Americans to a talented French actress, Elsa Zylberstein. Nothing happens easily in this French film; rather, Claudel and his actors subtly edge forward.

Scott Thomas turns prior criticisms of being distant and remote (see Random Hearts, The Horse Whisperer) to her benefit here. Juliette Fontaine is understandably reticent: She just got out of prison after 15 years for killing her 6-year-old son. Being blunt horrifies people; keeping quiet causes folks to think her aloof. A social worker pries, and well-meaning professor sister Lea (Zylberstein), who’s taken Juliette in, jabbers on. Why shouldn’t Juliette want to hang around the house in a drab overcoat, smoking?

Watch Scott Thomas as Juliette learns to feel. When Juliette first smiles it’s awkward, as if someone’s instructing her muscles to move. As Juliette becomes more comfortable with her nieces and potential suitor Michel (Laurent Grevil), her body relaxes; grinning becomes second nature. Throughout the movie, we wonder how Juliette could murder her child. The climactic explanation falls short, moving but too easy. Still, Scott Thomas is wrenching when Juliette explores long-buried anguish.

I’ve Loved You So Long isn’t just Juliette’s story. Lea first seems to reside in Paris Disneyland, trying to create the perfect family. Really, she’s that genuine and warm, yet slowly, her own layers reveal themselves. We sense her loss over missed connections when Juliette was jailed during Lea’s adolescence. We hear a quick but biting exchange about why Lea and husband Luc chose adoption. Lea’s angry breakdown while discussing Crime and Punishment with her students therefore carries added potency, thanks to the slowly building emotions we’ve seen from Zylberstein. It’s a cathartic moment.

Between I’ve Loved You So Long and the summer mystery Tell No One, Scott Thomas never has been more alive on screen. Funny it took performing in French to tap into previously unexplored depths of the British actress’ range.