I've Loved You So Long Blu-ray

Kristin Scott Thomas is brilliant as Juliette, freed from prison after serving 15 years. Enigmatic, reserved, yet ready to re-enter life cautiously, Juliette moves in with her younger sister, Lea (Elsa Zylberstein), a literature professor, and the latter's husband Luc (Serge Hazanavicius), who worries about allowing Juliette into a home with two young children (related to the reason she was convicted in the first place). Also in the house is Juliette and Lea's father (Jean-Claude Arnaud), mute from illness. Writer-director Philippe Claudel slowly reveals details about the nature of Juliette's crime as she takes a job in a hospital records department and is wooed by a colleague. Other forces in Juliette's life--people asking questions, a visit to her dementia-suffering mother, tensions between her and Lea--slowly tease out the mystery behind her actions and takes viewers to a conclusion that adds an element of surprise but ties things up too tidily. Claudel cultivates an aura of naturalism and no-frills storytelling that allows dramatic developments and revelations to unfold easily. The film borders a bit on soap opera, but the grace and intelligence of Thomas' performance, offset by Zylberstein's more emotional work, is never less than compelling. --Tom Keogh