The first thing we notice is the face of Kristen Scott Thomas. She is a beautiful woman, and still is, but there is something in that face of extreme pain. It is as if all of the life and happiness has been sucked out of it. It is a face that not only lacks joy but seems to negate the possibility of it.
Her character is named Juliette, and she sits at an airport terminal waiting for someone to come. That someone is her sister, Lea, played by Elsa Zylberstien. Lea hasn’t seen her sister for fifteen years, when she was a child, but there is only the most basic level of recognition at the reunion. For Juliette, there is no reason for anything anymore.
The movie works simultaneously as a drama and mystery, as we slowly find out what the characters know about what happened and what led to this reunion. Most everyone walking into the picture will know that Juliette has spent the last fifteen years in prison, but the crime itself and that motive behind are revealed slowly.
Because we do not know this information, we judge Juliette slowly. It is not so much that she has no social skills as it is that she chooses not to use them. There is no reason for her to do so, no society for her to believe in. She is intelligent, educated and articulate, but has nothing to say to anyone.
Lea, on the other hand seems to have everything- with kids and a loving husband, Luc (Serge Hazanavicius). What makes the picture so interesting (and moving) is that Lea loves her sister unconditionally. She believes that no matter what she did, she has not done anything beyond understanding or forgiveness. This is the central conflict of the film. One sister wants to recall the other to life, and the other has forgotten that there is any purpose in living.
The acting in this film is superb, but Scott Thomas is outstanding. Setting aside the fact that nearly all of her dialogue is in a second language she manages to show us the utter darkness that her character lives in without ever becoming manipulative. Zylberstien must also be complimented for playing a part that could have easily become maudlin without a trace of Robin Williams- like manipulation.
Although an excellent movie, there are a few flaws. There’s a rather ridiculous pastoral montage in the middle of the film that belong in another movie, and occasionally the screenplay (by director Phillipe Claudel) seems a bit contrived and lays on its points a bit obviously, especially in the subplot involving Juliette’s parole officer (Frederic Pierrot). But overall, this is a moving picture about one person who knows, just knows, her sister is a person worthy of love and respect, and another who cannot conceive that anyone could feel that way.
I've Loved You So Long...(2008)