Those who have read reviews of this wonderful movie will know what it's about. Those of you who don't want to know had better pass on reading on. There is no way to talk of this movie without jumping into that which drives it. K.Scott Thomas plays Juliette, a woman just released from prison for murder. She goes to live with her sister and her family; a leery husband and 2 adopted Vietnamese children. The movie gets us into the plot slowly, and it reveals itself at a leisurely pace. But there is nothing leisurely about the tension it builds as we watch Juliette reluctantly adapt to freedom with pent up emotion that seems like anger, or fear. She snaps at her niece almost immediately - and it takes us almost the whole movie to find out why - leaving the audience to wonder about the wiseness of her sister's decision. But she soon shows herself to be quite controlled, too controlled, and insular.
When we find out who she murdered we are even more cautious about where the movie will take us, and it keeps us wondering and hoping, and dreading throughout. Hoping we can forgive her, and dreading that we won't be able to, and wondering when and if the movie will reveal the ultimate question. Why? But ultimately this film is not about why, it's about the choices Juliette decided to make. Not in committing murder, but in keeping secret the facts that could redeem her. I am reminded of the other recent movie about a similar theme: "The Reader" which also looked at how someone chooses to take within themselves their own trial, and become their own judge and jury, and keep out those who will judge as well as those who might soften the shattered spirit.
Scott Thomas is powerful and gives a heart rending performance, and is wonderfully partnered by Elas Zilberstein as her sister Lea, who decides against all her parents wishes, as well as her husband's anxious judgment, to give her sister a loving nest in which to decide whether to heal or stay broken.
****************SPOILER*********************************** I'm glad that the movie was so well crafted that it is only in retrospect that it's plot line shows it's major crack. There is no way Juliette's motive would have not been revealed. Ask the simple question: why would a mother, who is a doctor, administer a fatal injection to her 6 year old son. Any lawyer, any detective, almost anyone would know why.
When we find out who she murdered we are even more cautious about where the movie will take us, and it keeps us wondering and hoping, and dreading throughout. Hoping we can forgive her, and dreading that we won't be able to, and wondering when and if the movie will reveal the ultimate question. Why? But ultimately this film is not about why, it's about the choices Juliette decided to make. Not in committing murder, but in keeping secret the facts that could redeem her. I am reminded of the other recent movie about a similar theme: "The Reader" which also looked at how someone chooses to take within themselves their own trial, and become their own judge and jury, and keep out those who will judge as well as those who might soften the shattered spirit.
Scott Thomas is powerful and gives a heart rending performance, and is wonderfully partnered by Elas Zilberstein as her sister Lea, who decides against all her parents wishes, as well as her husband's anxious judgment, to give her sister a loving nest in which to decide whether to heal or stay broken.
****************SPOILER*********************************** I'm glad that the movie was so well crafted that it is only in retrospect that it's plot line shows it's major crack. There is no way Juliette's motive would have not been revealed. Ask the simple question: why would a mother, who is a doctor, administer a fatal injection to her 6 year old son. Any lawyer, any detective, almost anyone would know why.