‘I’ve Loved You So Long’

It’s always exhilarating to see an actor or actress in a different kind of role, and that pleasure is intensified in this new film because it’s a prime example of the French tradition of high-quality adult melodrama. Conventional in technique but not story, this thoughtful film is slow developing because it’s all about character, about, if you really want to get down to it, the reclamation of a soul. Writer and first-time director Philippe Claudel chose brilliantly when he picked Kristin Scott Thomas to star as the shattered Juliette, a damaged person in the throes of permanent despair and someone unlike anyone she’s played before.

-- Kenneth Turan