I love you for so many years
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | I love you for so many years |
| Original title | Il ya longtemps que je t'aime |
| Country of production | France |
| original language | French |
| Publishing year | 2008 |
| length | 115 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 6 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Philippe Claudel |
| script | Philippe Claudel |
| production | Yves Marmion |
| music | Jean-Louis Aubert |
| camera | Jérôme Alméras |
| cut | Virginie Bruant |
| occupation | |
| |
I love you for so many years (Original title: Il ya longtemps que je t'aime ) is a film drama from France . The leading roles are cast by Kristin Scott Thomas as Juliette Fontaine and Elsa Zylberstein as Léa .
action
Behind Juliette, convicted of child murder, lies 15 years in prison, before her the reunion with her younger sister Léa, with whom she had no contact during her time in prison. The literature professor Léa, who leads a happy life with her husband Luc, also a university professor , and two adoptive daughters from Vietnam , welcomes the closed Juliette into her family with open arms and supports her in her first steps in regained freedom.
The film begins with Juliette waiting for her younger sister Léa at Nancy airport . During the subsequent drive to Léa's house, the two hardly exchange a word. When Léa drives off to pick up her adoptive daughters, Juliette roams her new home. In the reading room she meets Léa's father-in-law, who has lost speech after a stroke and spends most of the time reading. Shortly afterwards, Juliette is introduced to the daughters Clélis (also affectionately known as P'tit Lys) and Emélia. The first dinner together was tense, and when P'tit Lys asked where she had been in the past few years, her aunt replied evasively.
Juliette's presence doesn’t like Léa's husband, Luc, and this leads to the first argument that evening. As a result, Luc doesn't know how to meet his sister-in-law. It is not helpful here that Juliette persistently remains silent on all questions about her past. She is on probation and has to report to the local police station regularly. There Juliette meets a friendly soul in the officer in charge, Capitaine Fauré, who suffers from loneliness himself. After the police visit, she picks up Léa from her university and is introduced to Michel, a colleague of Léa's. The sisters go to a café together, and Juliette talks about experiences from their childhood in Rouen , which Léa cannot remember. The fact that parts of her childhood seem to have been wiped out weighs heavily on the younger sister, while the older tries to appease her. Juliette flirts with a guest in a café and then goes to a hotel for spontaneous sex. She later tells her sister about it.
Especially the older of Léa's daughters, P'tit Lys, meets Juliette with downright intrusive curiosity. Juliette is initially taken by surprise by the girl's advances and reacts brusquely, but later she starts to befriend the little girl and teaches her to play the piano . The probation officer gave Juliette an interview as a secretary, which went well at first. When asked why she was in prison, she truthfully replied that she killed her six-year-old son. The owner of the company is shocked and throws her out. She now meets regularly with Capitaine Fauré in a café. He tells her about his wish to travel to the Orinoco one day. She and her sister regularly go to the local swimming pool ; In the water, the two women can talk to each other more openly and relaxed.
Luc presses his wife with the question of whether Léa has already found out from Juliette why she killed her son at the time. This in turn leads to an argument, because Léa is also disturbed by the difficult situation, but also by her incomplete memories of her own childhood and unpleasant insights into the role of her parents. At dinner with friends the next evening, Juliette befriends Michel and slowly begins to establish contact with other people again.
When Juliette picks up Léa from the university shortly afterwards, she asks about the fate of her parents. The father died of cancer and asked Léa on his deathbed to take an oath not to tell Juliette about it. The mother suffers from dementia and lives in a nursing home nearby. Juliette rebukes her sister when she repeatedly uses “there” as a euphemism for Juliette's imprisonment: “You have to stop calling it that. It's called prison! You know what a prison is I, your sister, was in prison. "
Juliette is applying again to be a secretary, this time at the local hospital. Through this interview, the viewer learns that she used to be a doctor. The HR manager is skeptical and tells Juliette that the decision is not in her hands. The probation officer thinks the position is ideal and will do everything in her power to get Juliette the job. Juliette reacts angrily to her questions about the trial and leaves her in the office.
Léa picks up Luc from sports and invites him to the cinema. At first he is enthusiastic, but is completely horrified when he learns that Léa has asked Juliette to take care of the children. “You asked her to take care of the girls? She killed her child and you ask her? ”Meanwhile, Juliette meets Michel in an art museum , who shows her his favorite picture. At dinner Juliette lets her brother-in-law understand that she knows he doesn't want her in the house and announces that she will find a solution to the problem. Luc reacts embarrassed and gratefully uses the chance offered by P'tit Lys to interrupt the conversation, but Juliette wants her to read her bedtime story, which easily annoys Luc.
On an outing with friends, one of those present named Gérard persistently asks where Léa's sister suddenly came from and where she had spent the last few years. When he does not rest even after a direct request from Léa and Luc, Juliette truthfully replies that she has been in prison for murder for the last 15 years and leaves the group. Everyone at the table thinks this is a great joke and a return coach for Gérard. Only Michel realizes that this is not the case. He tells her that he worked as a prison teacher for several years. Juliette initially rejects his tentative advances by pointing out that she is not ready yet. Nevertheless, the two gradually get closer.
When a discussion with her students gets out of hand, Léa realizes that the question of what drove her sister to childicide is beginning to devour her. Meanwhile, Juliette is starting her new job at the hospital.
While swimming together, Juliette accuses her sister of completely forgetting about her during her time in prison. Léa Juliette then shows old calendar pages in which Juliette's name is noted every day and the time she has already spent in prison. In the hospital, Juliette is asked by the head of the clinic to change her cool, dismissive manner, as this harms the working atmosphere.
Luc changes his attitude towards his sister-in-law when she dislocates his shoulder after falling from a ladder. When an appointment conflict arises between him and his wife, it is Luc who this time suggests that Juliette take care of the daughters. The relationship between Michel and Juliette continues to develop gently. During a visit to her British mother in the nursing home, she recognizes Juliette for a moment, but says her daughter is still a child.
The friends surprise Juliette with a birthday party that evening. When visiting a discotheque, Juliette escapes from the crowd, but does not explain this at all when her sister asks. During her next visit to the police station, Juliette learns that Capitaine Fauré killed herself by being shot in the mouth and is deeply hit. Professionally, things are going better for her because she is given a permanent position after her probationary period has expired. Juliette has since decided to move out of Léa and Luc's house and rents an apartment in the city center.
While vacuuming, Léa falls into a medical document on Juliette's son Pierre. She lets a doctor friend explain to her what it means and confronts her sister about it. This finally collapses and opens up to Léa: Pierre was terminally ill and was dying; to spare him further suffering, Juliette killed him with an overdose of anesthetic . She had deliberately concealed this in court and voluntarily accepted the prison sentence. The film ends with Juliette's answer to Michel's question if someone is home. Her answer, not only to him, but also to Léa and herself, is: "I'm here."
Original title and references to it in the film
The French original title of the film "Il ya longtemps que je t'aime" ( I have loved you for so long, I will never forget you. Or I have loved you for such a long time. I will never forget you. ) Comes from the first Line of the refrain of the famous French song “ À la claire fontaine ” ( At the clear source ), which probably dates from the 18th century. In the film, the song is played and sung several times by Juliette, her sister Leá and one of her adopted daughters at the piano, and the maiden name Juliettes and Léas is "Fontaine".
background
Philippe Claudel about his film: “This is a film about the strength of women, about their ability to shine, to reinvent themselves, to revive. It's a story about our secrets and being locked up. Our imprisonment. "
Parallels between the film and the director's biography: like the character of Michel, he was a prison teacher for a few years, then a lecturer in literature in Nancy.
criticism
"His film, which, by the way, does not show that it is a debut, works like an alternative to the many poorly written and staged melodramas that have little to offer the viewer apart from bold emotional outbursts."
“The brilliantly played, psychologically dense actor drama forces the viewer into a conflict between empathy with the protagonist, who dominates the narrative attitude of the film, and the antipathy that one instinctively harbors towards her act. He challenges people to rethink their own prejudices and how to deal with guilt and forgiveness. A masterful feature film debut. "
Awards
The film was featured in the 2008 Berlinale competition , won the British Academy Film Award , was nominated for six Césars (including Best Film and Kristin Scott Thomas) and won two Césars (Philippe Claudel for best debut and Elsa Zylberstein for best supporting role ). Kristin Scott Thomas received the European Film Award for Best Actress in 2008 . Scott Thomas and the film received nominations at the 2009 Golden Globe Awards .
Web links
- I've Loved You So Long at the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Certificate of Release for So Many Years I Love You . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , October 2008 (PDF; test number: 115 872 K).
- ↑ Film data sheet: Il ya longtemps que je t'aime ... In: Internationale FilmFestspiele Berlin. Retrieved January 23, 2013 .
- ↑ Marcus Wessel: I love you for so many years. In: critic.de - the film page. October 8, 2008, accessed January 23, 2013 .
- ↑ I love you for so many years. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .