Review of I've Loved You So Long (2008) by Rajansatish P — 08 Mar 2013

Ooftt... it's a heavy one here. It gets a bit frustrating as it takes a fair while to reveal itself and in addition to that it's quite predictable plus tone-wise it just seems unsure of itself but all of this is forgiven through the outstanding performances, particularly that of Kristin Scott Thomas, along with the well-written script, particularly the final act and the elements that clearly make this a film worth seeing more than once to fully appreciate it.

It's a little slow for a while and yet things don't feel dragged out- the solution would probably be to have dual-timelines, one before prison and one after. This could have led to a damaging sentimentality to the film though so I understand why this was not done. It's disappointing that the outcome was so predictable but it was far from unsatisfying in how well-written and performed the concluding section of the film was. It's a hell of a debut by Claudel and a stand-out performance from Thomas but it suffers from other, plot-related, issues.