January 11, 2009 -- This French drama centers around the reunion of sisters Juliette Fontaine (played by Kristin Scott Thomas of “The English Patient”) and Léa (Elsa Zylberstein) after Juliette has spent 15 years in prison for murdering her young son. Juliette moves in with Léa and her family over the protests of Léa's husband, Luc (Serge Hazanavicius) who doesn't want a murderer in the house. He is particularly opposed to the idea of Juliette babysitting their children. After a time it becomes obvious, even to Luc, that Juliette is no murdering monster. She is a good, gentle person who is good with children. Luc relents and drops his objections to her babysitting. The question remains, why would a good mother kill her child? Juliette stubbornly refuses to address this question, even in her own defense at the trial. The reason for her odd behavior? Her refusal to discuss the murder is written into the story simply to advance the plot. Admittedly, it isn't much of a plot, but the film is a very good character study, and is a showcase for some great performances.

Kristen Scott Thomas gives a great performance as a woman who has turned inward and has developed a hard shell in prison. Through the course of the film we see Juliette gradually come out of that shell with the help of loving family and friends. Elsa Zylberstein plays a woman who has faith in her sister's essential goodness, despite the evidence the contrary and despite pressure from her family to disown Juliette. She is also remorseful about how she failed to support her sister while Juliette was in prison. She wants to make up for the mistakes she made in the past. The performances of the two women are both subtle and powerful. There is a very intense scene near the end of the film when Juliette finally reveals the reason she murdered her son. It turns out to be not much of a surprise, and Juliette's defense of her decision not to explain herself earlier is weak. It amounts to repeating, “What could you have done?” The answer is, of course, that Juliette would not have been so isolated if she had explained herself, and she might have even been enclosed in the loving arms of her family.

The film also delves into the problems that all ex-convicts have when trying to get back into society, get a job, make new friends, find a place to live and make peace with themselves. In addition to Kristen Scott Thomas and Elsa Zylberstein, the film has very good supporting performances, including the children who play Luc and Léa's children. This is a very good character study, and one of the best foreign language films of 2008. This film rates a B+.

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Copyright © 2009 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
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