I’ve Loved You So Long (2008)

From NetFlix:

After more than a decade apart, estranged sisters Juliette (Kristin Scott
Thomas) and Lea (Elsa Zylberstein) try to rebuild their fractured relationship.
But the task is hardly easy, considering Juliette’s past. She’s been in jail
for 15 years — for killing someone. As she settles into small-town life with
Lea’s family, the locals can’t help but talk. Philippe Claudel’s feature film
debut garnered him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Foreign Language Film.

Do not miss this beautiful, sad, perfectly acted French film (with subtitles). Kristin Scott Thomas’ French is excellent. (She left England at the age of 19 to work as an au pair in Paris. She was married to François Oliviennes, a French obstetrician. They live in a 19th century country house with their children, Hannah, Joseph, and George.)

Part of the NetFlix description is misleading. Don’t worry about nosy neighbors except at one tense moment at a dinner party. Gossip has nothing to do with the film. Rather, the film is a warm testimony to the enduring and determined love of a wonderfully sweet younger sister (played to perfection by Elsa Zylberstein) for an older sister who has suffered an enormous amount. It is about the sister’s husband and children (and husband’s father) growing to trust and love Juliette. Above all it is about coming to terms with a sorrow that can never go away. You will probably guess early on what happened in the past, but that is nowhere near as important as some amount of redemption in the present.

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