I've Loved You So Long

Some films are like a force of nature, driven by a gale of acting that literally blows you over. Kristin Scott Thomas knocks you down with the strength of her performance that anchors I've Loved You So Long (Il y a longtemps que je t'aime). This is Thomas' second appearance in a French film that American audiences have seen this year. She also plays a supporting role in the well reviewed thriller Tell No One. (The latter film is one of the year's best and has been playing in Houston for months. It was at the Angelika most of the summer and last night I noticed it playing at the AMC Studio 30.)
I've Loved You So Long measures its appeal solely in terms of how you cotton to Thomas' brooding and powerful turn as a woman with a secret. This is a one-performance film in the sense that the film and all the characters revolve around revealing, layer by layer, how and why Juliette Fontaine (Thomas) got to her present state. This is a film that actors like because it's a virtual how-to manual in letting nuances of behavior slowly reveal the depth of a person. Notably this film and two others released by Sony Pictures Classics spotlight a trio of great female performances including Thomas, Melissa Leo (Frozen River), and Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married).
I've Loved You seems detached from the other characters who react with various degrees to Juliette's reintroduction to society. First we learn that Juliette has just completed a long prison sentence as she moves in with her sister and her sister's husband and small child. There's a spiral of revelations that are best viewed fresh rather than spilled here. I've Loved You So Long never wavers in its serious tone nor sugarcoats its character's fragile shells. Be assured it's French to the point of a big dinner scene where one drunken lout compares Juliette to a mysterious figure in a lovelorn French film. The introspection on display is deep and when you let the film punch its buttons the grief is real.