I’ve Loved You So Long | Phillipe Claudel, 2008
“I’ve loved you for so long / I will never forget you”. Romantic lyrics, originally uttered in a romantic language, these are the words that have inspired French filmmaker Phillipe Claudel in the crafting of his latest film Il y a Longtemps que Je t’aime. Without context, such words evoke dreamy images of sad, perhaps unrequited love but with I’ve Loved You So Long Claudel has applied these words to a stark and unequivocally real situation. Juliette Fontaine has just been released from prison after what we initially guess to be a long, long time. She meets her younger sister Léa in an airport lobby and their awkward embrace tells all there is to tell, the pair haven’t seen each other for a while. Juliette is inducted into Léa’s unconventional but loving family, but it isn’t long before the children begin asking questions and truths begin to arise. Part of the reason I’ve Loved You So Long is so initially appealing is that it lays no cards on the table at the outset, all we have to go on are the small group of characters we are introduced to and how they interact with one another – the importance of family being a central theme here. Claudel seems content to merely allow us a look at Juliette’s reaction to freedom, rather than explain to us why she was imprisoned in the first place – that comes later – and such information is eventually and steadily drip fed to us until we feel bloated and ultimately disappointed as a result.
The character of Juliette is by far the most complex and thus rewarding aspect of I’ve Loved You So Long, and much of this should be attributed to Kristin Scott Thomas and her furiously honest performance. The English actress equips Juliette with a pained and angry yet at the same time rather sad face that both allows us a glimpse at the anguish in her past and encourages others to take advantage – particularly the men she meets. We discover mid-way through the film, as Juliette attends a job interview, the magnitude of the crime she committed in order to receieve such a hefty sentence. It’s a discovery that sparks outrage and insults from her interviewer, a reaction that Juliette simply absorbs before moving on. By now we already feel connected to the character and through this burst of hatred thrown in her direction we become even closer to her plight. We couldn’t possibly imagine what she must have been through but the character and her dignity are what take the film from a melodramatic family drama to something entirely more substantial. The main, gaping flaw of I’ve Loved You So Long, as previously mentioned, is that Phillipe Claudel doesn’t seem to know when to stop unravelling the ball of mystery that he has so adeptly conceived. We long for a third act conclusion but not in a manner that insults our own imagination and undoes much of the good work done up to that point.
Our Rating:
