Kristin Scott Thomas gives a terrific, quietly distraught performance in the finely wrought if somewhat beige French drama I’ve Loved You So Long.

Thomas plays Juliette, a woman estranged not only from her family but from the idea of herself as a human being deserving of any kind of life. After 15 years in prison she is reunited with her younger sister Léa, who loves her unconditionally and welcomes her into her own family.

The directorial debut from the novelist Phillippe Claudel, this is a classy, emotionally intelligent portrait of two women rebuilding a relationship. It is, however, flawed by fault lines of implausibility that surround the climactic revelation about the nature of Juliette’s crime.

12A, 115 minutes

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