In Kristin Scott Thomas's new French film, I've Loved You So Long, she plays a woman who has been in jail for 15 years and has just been released. Her formerly estranged sister (the prison board contacted her prior to Kristin's release) picks her up and takes her into her home, along with her husband, his deaf father and their two adopted children.
The story itself is decent, there a moments created which give the actresses ample freedom to fashion interesting moments but at times it feels as if these could be in any order, they're not necessarily scripted towards the climax. Some things are predictable (what Kristin's crime was, her prospective employer's reaction at her first job interview, etc.) but that is less so the longer it goes. The big problem though is the end, the whole point of the story they're telling - writer/director Philippe Claudel cops out and goes for probably the least interesting option possible in detailing the reasoning behind her crime. It's lazily simplistic and has holes galore in its plausibility.
Another problem with the film is the editing and also the direction of the acting at the end. Throughout the film they cut out of certain scenes abruptly, which you get used to, but when you come to the key dramatic scene you've been building to they jump in halfway through the conversation and have the women shouting their heads off. It's incredibly unsatisfying dramatically and not being given the context of how this came about you are just left watching actresses "act". This is doubly frustrating because up to that point both had given very good, but very different performances.
Scott Thomas is getting all the plaudits for this performance and that is because it is the showier role. She is restrained, which I like and it does suit the character, but extremely mannered and that meant for me I was aware of her acting mechanics being on show at times, occasionally I was seeing her acting choices rather than getting lost in the character. She portrays a range of emotions and is working the thing on multiple levels for the audience and she does it very well, I can just see the effort. Elsa Zylberstein as the sister has nowhere near as much to do as Kristin, but she is very natural and that serves her character better. There's very little between the two for me, what Kristin gains in her role being so impressive she loses in not being as natural.
Overall this is a film that could have been very good but fails in that through the writing and the direction. The hype around Scott Thomas will draw people in and the acting overall will ensure it's worth your time, but it really is an opportunity missed. The guitar score was particularly useless and at times intrusive, it is shot nicely and the ensemble cast all acquit themselves well. Worth going to see, but a tad disappointing given the potential.
Exactement!
And I don't think she's getting in Oscar's final five...