Il y a longtemps que je t'aime (2008)

Director:

Philippe Claudel

Writer:

Philippe Claudel (writer)

Release Date:

19 March 2008 (Belgium)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Hospital | Nancy France | Cigarette Smoking | Family | Revelation

Awards:

2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Kristin Scott Thomas	...	Juliette Fontaine
Elsa Zylberstein	...	Léa
Serge Hazanavicius	...	Luc
Laurent Grévill	...	Michel
Frédéric Pierrot	...	Capitaine Fauré
Claire Johnston	...	La mère de Juliette et Léa
Catherine Hosmalin	...	La conseillère d'insertion
Jean-Claude Arnaud	...	Papy Paul
Olivier Cruveiller	...	Gérard
Lise Ségur	...	P'tit Lys
Mouss	...	Samir (as Mouss Zouheyri)
Souad Mouchrik	...	Kaisha
Nicole Dubois	...	La DRH hôpital
Laurent Claret	...	Directeur hôpital
Marcel Ouendeno	...	Bamakalé

Also Known As:

I've Loved You So Long (Europe: English title) (festival title)
Apla... s' agapo (Greece) [el]

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for thematic material and smoking.

Runtime:

115 min

Country:

France

Language:

French | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Certification:

Netherlands:6 | USA:PG-13 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud)

Filming Locations:

Nancy, Meurthe-et-Moselle, France

Company:

UGC YM

Movie Connections:

References The Shop Around the Corner (1940)

Is this Scott Thomas's greatest role?

This may be the film that makes Kristin Scott Thomas's reputation as not a good actress but a great one. It is a French film, and one has to accept the parameters of French 'intimisme'; as such it is wonderful. It is not a question of being a parent or not: it's a question of being ready or not to be swept out of one's daily self by great acting. Elsa Zylberstein is a fine actress (I remember her with affection in 'Farinelli'), but Scott Thomas here surpasses anything she has done before. She is capable, we knew, of making herself nearly ugly ('Angels and Insects'); she can do understated sensitivity ('Four Weddings and a Funeral'); here she gets a part of the emotional power of a Medea or a Phaedra and plays it with the let-it-rip force of a great tragédienne. The film is a vehicle for an actress, and none the worse for that. It is not unworthy of her, and that may be the best one can say of Claudel's work; but that may just be enough. There was a curiously fugitive quality to KST's interviews about this film: one got the impression she didn't really want to talk about it in more than mundane depth. One can see why. It all goes very near the bone. She may want to do a sheer glorious comedy next, just to remind us all of the blithe side of her nature. Long may she live, and work.