I've Loved You So Long - film review
Beautifully observed drama centred on the relationship between Juliette, just released from prison, and her younger sister Lea. Separated since Lea was a teenager, the two women have had no communication during Juliette's incarceration and so must develop their adult sibling relationship from scratch. Meanwhile tensions with Lea's husband simmer as the reason for Juliette's long prison sentence looms over the household, and as the details of Juliette's crime gradually emerge, her feelings of guilt both for conceiving and murdering her son are starkly exposed.
A few plotlines are left undeveloped, providing food for thought for the imaginative viewer. Juliette's visit to her senile mother triggers for the first time in years a brief moment of lucidity from the old woman. Her probation officer, ostensibly planning the trip of a lifetime to the Orinoco, instead shoots himself in the head, worn down by relationship difficulties with his estranged wife. All around is suffering.
Ultimately, the question posed by the film is 'How long should we be punished for our crimes?'
Essential viewing.