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Category:    Home > Reviews > Drama > France > I’ve Loved You So Long (2008/Sony DVD)

I’ve Loved You So Long (2008/Sony DVD)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: B-     Extras: C+     Film: B-

 

 

Kristin Scott Thomas is a really good actress who has endured an uneven career, but is very respected.  Recently, she played an ex-surgeon who had just served 15 years for a criminal act that ruined her life and many of those around her.  In I’ve Loved You So Long (2008), she gives one of the most painful and incredible performances of her career as Juliette, gutted out by time and loss, not all together, totally out of her element and still paying for her past.

 

She goes to live with her sister Lea (Elsa Zylberstein) since she has nowhere to go and that is barely working out.  She is dumped on, her character attacked, is having sometimes serious adjustment issues and we see it the long, hard way in one of the boldest performances of the year.  Writer Philippe Claudel makers his directing debut here and the film challenges us to ask ourselves what redemption is.  Can anyone truly pay for damage they cannot undo?  At what point is enough enough against someone responsible?  How ugly can people get?  Is she actually unforgivable and deserves perpetual condemnation?

 

There are no easy answers and that is the point of this film.  It is not perfect, can be uneven and in some ways, I wished it would have dug even deeper, but then there is Thomas here really in a dark place and it comes across on screen every second you see her.  That is for most of the film.  So even if parts get trying, patience pays off.  We definitely recommend I’ve Loved You So Long.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image looks decent throughout, though this DVD is a little soft and weak in the detail department.  Fortunately, there is a Blu-ray out there and we expect Director of Photography Jerome Almeras’ subtly dark work comes across better there.  The Dolby Digital 5.1 maybe dialogue-based, but plays very nicely with a good use of surround in ambient and other ways.  The English dub could have been better, but the original French is the way to go as expected.  Extras include that English track with Thomas dubbing herself and a very good audio commentary track by Claudel.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo


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