A devastating and engrossing drama from Philippe Claudel, I’VE LOVED YOU SO LONG also offers an eloquent and moving treatise on love, loss and the rebuilding of emotional ties. The plot is relatively simple. First seen distractedly puffing on a cigarette as she waits for her younger sister Lea (Zylberstein) at an airport, Juliette (Scott Thomas, THE WALKER) is a plainly dressed, middle-aged woman with tired hair and even more tired eyes, whose backstory slowly emerges throughout the picture. Lea, married to lexicographer Luc (Serge Hazanavicius), has a full life that includes raising two adopted Vietnamese daughters and looking after Luc’s ailing father. For tragic reasons that become clear (and which it would spoil to reveal here) the two sisters haven’t seen each other for 15 years but gradually rediscover common ground. Beautifully written to capture the seemingly unmeldoramatic events that constitute everyday life, the film contains at its heart a simply astonishing and quietly courageous performance from Scott Thomas.
