I’ve Loved You So Long centers around recent parolee Juliette (Kristin Scott Thomas), who has for 15 years been estranged from
what remains of her family, and has a drab wardrobe of
browns and greys to match her battered psyche. Lea (Elsa Zylberstein, below left),
her younger sister, picks up Juliette at the airport and subsequently
takes her into her Parisian home, which she shares with her husband
Luc (Serge Hazanavicius), his mute father, and their two adopted little Vietnamese girls. As
Juliette is slowly reintegrated into society both at large — she even bags a one-afternoon stand — and in miniature, a slow thaw occurs, with unanticipated consequences for all
involved.

There’s a pinch of self-conscious
Franco-genuflection to the directorial debut of novelist and literature
professor Philippe Claudel, most particularly in the form of a dinner scene in which the assembled parties debate and praise filmmaker Eric Rohmer.
For those who’ve sampled even a bit of French cinema, the emotional
contours of this tale are familiar, and in that regard the movie feels
a bit like a stacked deck, daring one to rebel against its
slow-developing appraisal of confinement and regret. The studied warmth and unfussy sincerity of its superb, aching telling, though, wins out; I’ve Loved You So Long
is a movie about familial silences and the great, tilled-earth spaces
in between, both in relationships and in one’s head. The slow reveal of
the full reason behind Juliette’s incarceration gives the film some
extra emotional heft (doleful drags on cigarettes don’t hurt, either), but this is
first and foremost an Oscar-level showcase for Thomas, as a woman who
learns to purge herself of the swallowed self-loathing that has soured
her soul. Think of it as a French, secular rebirth drama, about
self-forgiveness and learning to walk looking at least partially
forward, and not always backwards.

Housed in an Amaray plastic case, I’ve Loved You So Long comes presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, with melancholic motion menus and complementary French and English language Dolby digital 5.1 surround audio tracks; Thomas even provides the alternate dubbed voiceover for the latter track. Somewhat interestingly, the case itself features a hollowed-out spindle roughly the size of the DVD itself on each side, meaning that much less plastic is used to produce the case. The only downside of this otherwise laudable environmental consciousness is that the disc is a bit harder than normal to affix on its stabilizing button.

Apart from these cosmetic issues, I’ve Loved You So Long is unfortunately otherwise largely a case of a great but small film getting the bum’s rush DVD treatment from studio powers-that-be much more concerned with padding out that double-disc version of Hancock or Ghost Rider. Seven deleted scenes with optional subtitled French commentary from Claudel — who does speak English, it must be noted — run about five-and-a-half minutes. Many of the scenes, Claudel notes, including one of Juliette sitting next to an old woman at the police station, were trimmed because of what he deems his own poor on-set composition or blocking decisions, leaving him unsatisfied with editing bay choices. In another sequence, Luc observes Juliette; Claudel characterizes this scene, and a separate chat between Luc and Lea, as showing Luc being too forceful about his sister-in-law’s presence. Unfortunately, apart from these scenes, there are no other supplemental features of note, save the requisite theatrical trailer and previews for Blu-ray technology and a dozen other Sony home video releases. Given how much of an awards push this film was (rightly) given for its leading lady, it’s shocking that there isn’t at least some sort of interview material with Thomas. To purchase the DVD via Amazon, click here. B+ (Movie) C- (Disc)