A dark, mysterious love

During the solemn opening moments of novelist Philippe Claudel's directorial debut, I've Loved You So Long, Juliette Fontaine sits alone, smoking a cigarette while blankly staring out the window at a bleak, overcast sky. When she speaks, her voice is as empty as the expression she wears on her face, save the haunted look in her eyes.

Juliette has spent the last 15 years in a French prison, though you don't know immediately why. When she enters the city, she seems lost in the open space and disconnected from the world.

With Juliette, Kristin Scott Thomas (an Oscar nominee for The English Patient) has created a beautifully complicated character as intriguing as she is mystifying. Hiding the dark, perplexing nature of her past, Juliette masks her deeply vulnerable persona behind a cold, unsociable exterior.

"It's difficult to explain what she's feeling with words," Claudel said in an interview with The Diamondback. "It's better to explain with silence and a mute face. It was a very exciting work for an actress to try to express it without words, but just with her face and her body."

Juliette's story in I've Loved You So Long begins when her sister, Léa (a stellar Elsa Zylberstein, The Feelings Factory), picks her up at the end of that lengthy jail sentence. What Juliette did and why she did it are stunning revelations Claudel provides in due time. Until then, the focus is on her gradual assimilation back into society.

Essentially born again, she renews a strained relationship with her sister, searches for employment and flirts with the notion of romance, all while catching up on the chapters of her life that passed her by. It's the story of a tortured being coming to terms with her past and present states, and Claudel unravels it with uncanny composure for a first-time writer and director.

"I wanted to tell a story about a woman, because constantly in my novels, it's a man's universe, and the women are in the background," Claudel said. "I wanted to change and try to express the female soul and explore the complexity of a woman. I composed this screenplay like a puzzle with different little pieces. I wanted to have the pieces of truths and lies,and compose a mural."

The situations presented seem startlingly real - you can feel it in Claudel's authentic dialogue and in the raw emotion of Thomas and Zylberstein. Helming a quietly intricate character analysis, the 46-year-old director strikes the necessary emotional chords without ever having to overplay his hand.

As Juliette evolves throughout the film, the investment in her life becomes increasingly enthralling. By the time Claudel finally reveals the reason behind Juliette's imprisonment, our understanding of the remarkably tangible figure comes full circle.

Although I've Loved You So Long is far more than just a showcase of Thomas' talents, there is no denying the 48-year-old steals the show. Achieving a dominating presence with little more than understated subtlety and stillness, Thomas may very well have produced this year's finest performance.

So will Thomas follow in Marion Cotillard's (La Vie en Rose) footsteps and give France its second straight best leading actress statue at the Oscars? It's still too early to tell, but betting against her doesn't seem like a wise idea - Thomas encompasses the layered character in thoroughly convincing fashion. Claudel figured Thomas could use the role to work against type in more ways than one, and the end result speaks for itself.

"She really is underemployed in French movies, and I was proud to show that talent for the French audience," Claudel said. "It's another face of her talent, because in this movie, for the first time, she is not a beautiful and glamorous woman. She is a portrait of the dead woman, and I wanted to shoot that."

tfloyd1@umd.edu