Sneak preview of an excellent film

[Lydia Leftcoast]

TalkCinema, which I just joined this year, is an outfit that does sneak previews of foreign and independent films followed by discussions. You buy a season ticket and show up on the designated dates, but you don't know in advance what the film will be.

Since the Minneapolis location is a vigorous long walk from where I live, I signed up and hiked down there on a gorgeous October Saturday morning to find out that the movie of the day was a French film called "I've Loved You So Long" ("Il y a longtemps que je t'aime.") The discussion leader, a critic for the local paper, simply told us that it was about two sisters.

Well, I, like most of the audience, thought it was a superb film. It opens with a late forties-early fifties woman waiting nervously in an airport. A younger woman rushes in breathlessly, apologizing for being late. They drive off together, but the atmosphere is extremely tense, with the younger one trying to make lighthearted conversation and the older one silent or noncommittal.

We don't know why things are so tense and awkward. Why is the younger woman's husband reluctant to have his sister-in-law around? Why doesn't the older sister know much about the younger sister's life? Why does the older sister react so strongly when her little niece offers to recite a poem that she has written?

The details are revealed bit by bit. This is not a horror film or a murder mystery, although the script uses some of the plot mechanisms employed by the best mystery writers. Instead, it is a a character study of a wounded soul trying to find her place in the world and the people in her life trying to understand her motivations. Some things are never explained.

The ending had much of the audience in tears.

This is NOT a movie for those who require explosions, car chases, and flashy visual effects. Instead, it's a quiet but absorbing character study and a glimpse of life in a provincial city in France.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

1. This one is currently in theaters, too

:kick:

[Sandrine for you]

2. This come from a song...

À la claire fontaine

À la claire fontaine
M'en allant promener,
J'ai trouvé l'eau si belle
Que je m'y suis baigné.
Lui ya longtemps que je t'aime
Jamais je ne t'oublierai.

J'ai trouvé l'eau si belle
Que je m'y suis baigné;
Sous les feuilles d'un chéne
Je me suis fait sécher.
Lui ya longtemps que je t'aime
Jamais je ne t'oublierai.

Sur la plus haute branche
Le rossignol chantait.
Chante, rossignol, chante,
Toi qui as le coeur gai.
Lui ya longtemps que je t'aime
Jamais je ne t'oublierai.

Tu as le coeur à rire,
Moi je l'ai-t-à pleurer;
J'ai perdu ma maîtresse
Sans l'avoir mérité.
Lui ya longtemps que je t'aime
Jamais je ne t'oublierai.

Pour un bouquet de roses
Que je lui refusai.
Je voudrais que la rose
Fût encore au rosier.
Lui ya longtemps que je t'aime
Jamais je ne t'oublierai.

Je voudrais que la rose
Fût encore au rosier,
Et moi et ma maîtresse
Dans les mêm's amitiés.
Lui ya longtemps que je t'aime
Jamais je ne t'oublierai.

[bikebloke]

3. Put it on my Netflix queue

I heard about this last week and quickly added it to my Netflix queue.

[raccoon]

4. I'll probably have to wait for it to go to DVD.

Films like that usually don't come anywhere near my neck of the woods.