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I've Loved You So Long
Sony Pictures Classics


7.6

based on 28 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 25 votes
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MPAA RATING: PG-13 for thematic material and smoking

Starring Kristin Scott Thomas, Laurent Grévill, Elsa Zylberstein, and Frédéric Pierrot

Lea and Juliette are sisters who are almost complete strangers. Juliette has just been released from prison after serving a long sentence. Lea contacted Juliette when she was released and suggested that Juliette come to live with her. Juliette had no particular desire to see her sister again. Life together isn’t easy to begin with. Juliette has to relearn certain basics. The world has moved on and she often seems confused. Although she may seem cold and distant, her attitude stems more from her being ill at ease. Gradually, the real Juliette emerges. She opens up to the world once more. But a huge question hangs over Juliette’s renaissance. Why did she do such a terrible thing fifteen years ago? (Sony Classics)

GENRE(S):	Drama \| Mystery
WRITTEN BY:	Philippe Claudel
DIRECTED BY:	Philippe Claudel
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: March 3, 2009 Theatrical: October 24, 2008
RUNNING TIME:	115 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	France
LANGUAGE(S):	French \| English

Alternative Title: Il y a longtemps que je t'aime

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Kristin Scott Thomas' performance in I've Loved You So Long is one of a small handful of highlights by which people will remember this year in movies. This is acting at its most exalted.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak

For all its moodiness, despair and disconnect, I've Loved You So Long is all about acknowledging human error and embracing ties -- to family and life -- that can't be undone.

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

Their characters' desire (Scott Thomas and Zylberstein) -- no, need -- to repair their fragile bond feels as achingly real as the mother lode of hidden pain that gets exposed by the work of these two great actresses.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Philippe Claudel gives his heroine unusual depth, which Kristin Scott Thomas reveals with unusual passion.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Performances this strong and direction this sensitive make us simply grateful to have an emotional story we can sink our teeth into and enjoy.

Austin Chronicle Josh Rosenblatt

But let's be honest: Any actress can do melancholy; it takes a special talent to recognize that there's a certain luxuriousness, a certain joy, to be found in longtime self-hatred.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

This film teaches the rewards of patience for directors, for actors and for audiences, too. The compelling reality of Juliette's plight comes from how subtly and gradually she emerges from her carapace.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

This is a picture of quiet observation, contained emotion, the hush before the cathartic scream.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

This is one of Kristin Scott Thomas' most inspired performances.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

The film deftly sketches a sibling relationship complicated by obligation, guilt, mistrust, and, not least, an abiding love.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

It's no insult to the rest to say that this is one of those films that sells itself on the strength of a single performance.

The New Yorker David Denby

Claudel turns out to be very good at the psychology of intimacy. An observant man, he has assembled a large (and, to us, unknown) cast of actors around his star, and he dramatizes her slow reawakening with an infinite number of small, sharply etched details.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

A revelation comes near the end that is both tremendously moving and a bit disappointing, in the way that the solutions to great mysteries frequently are. This turn does not diminish the accomplishment of Ms. Scott Thomas's deep, subtle and altogether stunning performance, but it does alter the scale of the movie, turning it into a more manageable, less existentially unsettling drama.

New York Magazine David Edelstein

Philippe Claudel's direction is both probing and delicate, and Scott Thomas's face, even immobile, keeps you watching, searching for hints of her character's past, unable to blink for fear of missing something vital.

The Hollywood Reporter Maggie Lee

A scintillating drama about pain and healing made with intelligence and compassion.

Variety Derek Elley

A movie that is utterly engrossing despite being, on the surface, about very little.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

The movie's action largely takes place beneath the skin. The pace is slow but not glacial, yet Claudel demands patience. Ultimately, I've Loved You So Long is uplifting, although one might not expect that from the thematic material.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Writer/director Philippe Claudel knows just how to structure a character study of this sort, so that key elements and important secrets are revealed over time, piquing our interest. The film is almost like a novel or short story, so one's curiosity is satisfied slowly.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Scott Thomas' reserve as an actor - which probably helped keep her from top stardom after an Oscar nomination for "The English Patient" (1996) - makes her perfect casting for this French film, the auspicious debut of director Philippe Claudel.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

It would be easy to overrate I've Loved You So Long, which often dampens its best effects with undue tastefulness, but the image of Scott Thomas, with her despairing resilience, stays with one.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

This is a movie about actors acting; who cares why Juliette was in the pen?

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

The movie is held together by the scenes between Thomas and Zylberstein, which are superbly acted.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

A novelist and screenwriter, Claudel's directing for the first time here, and he leans on melodramatic contrivances more than he needs to. Still, he gives us a lean and observant weepie, and the mystery of Thomas's Juliette pulls you in.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Director Claudel makes you wait until film's end to discover why, exactly, Juliette committed her unspeakable crime, and it's the only disappointing aspect of the movie -- the only time I've Loved You So Long traipses into melodrama. But the rest of this utterly absorbing picture never strikes a false note.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

Without Kristin Scott Thomas, I've Loved You So Long would be a watchable but hardly a memorable movie. With her, it's both - she so fully inhabits the character that everyone and everything around her are simply enhanced.

New York Daily News Joe Neumaier

Scott Thomas breathes more emotion into Juliette's affectless, haunted demeanor than most actors do with pages of dialogue.

Village Voice Ella Taylor

A modestly satisfying tale of sisterly love weighed down by a history of family betrayal and mendacity.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

Claudel commits the cardinal sin of withholding the full story until the very end, when it spills out in a histrionic scene between the two sisters and largely exonerates the older one.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.6 (out of 10) based on 25 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Bob T gave it a1:
What a completely implausible, unrealistic tale. Why would any one not admit the true motive for such an act - love based euthanasia unless they were totally pathologically masochistic and equally totally inconsiderate of their family's feelings? Why wouldn't any one have arrived at the most obvious,and reasonable explanation? If you like a melodramatic weeper this film should float your boat. Of course Kristin is very easy on the eyes, even when morbid of visage as is mostly here .

Donald W gave it a4:
Boring, depressing, and lots of smoking. What a combination.

Paul D gave it a10:
Terrific novelistic movie with a superb central performance and vivid supporting characters. Kristin Scott Thomas elevates the movie above melodrama with her complex, subtle, multi-layered protrayal of a woman who is released from prison after 15 years for a seemingly horrible crime. Claudel provides strong direction with an emphasis on the little details that make all the difference in keeping the viewer hooked. Some people may find it a little slow, but I think this is primarily because most American movies seem to have been made for an audience with the attention span of a gnat. If Thomas doesn't receive an Academy Award nomination, there is no justice.

Linda P gave it a10:
A beautiful story of love and trust between sisters.

Linda L gave it a10:
Brilliantly acted, deeply moving. Admittedly, there's not a big American-movie-style payoff, that moment when, say, Julia Roberts goes into raving hysterics and that vein on her forehead stands out. The beauty of Kristin Scott Thomas's performance is in the way she slowly, gradually emerges from the frozen awfulness of her crime & punishment, and starts to become a feeling person again. The sister's determination to help her is moving, too.

J Male gave it a1:
Horrible. I thought this movie would never end.

Rye C gave it a3:
A generally slow drama that never pays off. I was really surprised to see the praise for Kristin Scott Thomas. I found her performance to be that of a one trick pony. She's detached and uncomfortable with life the whole movie. With the exception of a couple scenes, she doesn't need to show much range. This movie wasn't a bad story it just didn't move me and that may be due to the two hour runtime. This really should have been a short film or at least under 80 minutes. Pass on this one unless you enjoy the feeling of watching paint dry while watching films.

I've Loved You So Long Sony Pictures Classics

I've Loved You So Long
Sony Pictures Classics