Viewing I’ve Loved You So Long

This film, directed by Philippe Claudel, is about loss, redemption and reconciliation. Starring Kristin Scott Thomas and Elsa Zylberstein as two sisters separated for 15 years when Juliette (Scott Thomas) is convicted and jailed for the murder of her 6 year old son Pierre. At her trial. Juliette offers no explanation for her actions and is content to accept her punishment and live with her guilt. Her family disassociate themselves from her although her younger sister Lea, believes that there is an explanation and remains convinced that Juliette can redeem herself. The film is set in the period following Juliette’s release from prison when she moves in with her sister and her family and is struggling to reintegrate into society.

The film was shot digitally and there is a great attention to detail. It is photographically  very good to watch. The director says he deliberately kept the camera work simple so as not to detract from the skill of his actors.

I have chosen one example  from the final scene of the film. Juliette has just explained to Lea the death of her son after Lea had discovered a medical report showing that Pierre was terminally ill. The scene up until this point was very intense and emotional. The two women are taking in the enormity of what has just happened, when Lea looks towards the window and remarks on the scene outside. “Look, it’s so beautiful”

 

Juliette then looks at Lea, the focus changes to her face and she looks at the window,

“Oui”

The shot then changes to the window.  The lashing rain and the weeping willow tree moving in the wind, make constantly changing patterns on the glass. (you really need the moving image here)

The  change in pace with this simple juxtaposition signals a new understanding between the sisters and a new chapter in their relationship.

Project 4: Camera angles

This project deals with the position from which the camera (and the audience) views the action (shot). There are four basic shooting angles and their names are self explanatory:

• Low angle
• High angle
• Canted frame
• Point of view (subjective of an individual)

---

Examples of camera angles from the film “The Limey” (1999) directed by Steven Soderbergh for Film Four

Low angle: This low angle close up was shot showing Terence Stamp’s character Wilson, as he reflects on the events of the past days during his return flight from Los Angeles. This intimacy helps to show the emotion of  the character during a complex montage of back and forth cuts at the start of the film.

---

High angle: A high angle shot like this one has introduced tension, Wilson is about to break into a freight depot to confront some hoodlums and try to gain information about his daughter’s death. There is no way to know whether this is a subjective POV and his approach has been detected or just an objective view showing that he has to overcome a high security fence to enter the depot. 

---

High Angle: This viewpoint has introduced anticipation to the action. This unusual swimming pool on a hillside house in Los Angeles just has to be the scene of a fatality in the coming action – but who will end up in the bottom of the canyon?

---

High angle and low angle POV: This final pair of angled shots are shown over Wilson’s explanation of his “incremental” relationship with his daughter. He is looking up at her from the prisoner’s dock to the public gallery. He is relating how, as young girl she would threaten to call the police if he was naughty. It shows how he looked up to her and how important she was in his life. She is looking wistfully down at him with a sort of resignation. (Soderbergh very cleverly used footage of Stamp as a young man from Ken Loach’s 1967 film “Poor Cow”.)

---

Powerful emotive frames “The Debt Collector”

These stills are taken from the psychological thriller directed by Anthony Neilson for Film Four.

Anger: This still from the “The Debt Collector” shows Keltie (actor Ken Stott) venting his displeasure to a fellow policeman. The frame is tight on the two actors, and the camera follows them downstairs. The camera movement is halted as Stott turns to his colleague and looks up spitting venom. I think it is important that both figures are in the frame, up close and personal.

---

Despair: Having been attacked in her home and raped by Keltie, Dryden’s wife Val, desperately implores the police to find Keltie before he kills her husband. Although in all of these shots, close framing helps to reveal and reinforce the emotion, the accompanying soundtrack and the actor’s dialogue make an equal contribution.

---

Fear: In another scene, a young thug is confronted by former Debt Collector Nickie Dryden (Billy Connolly) as he angrily berates him. Again the framing is close enough to show the fearful expression the lads face. It also gives the viewer a feeling of being involved and very close to the action. In this way the emotion is communicated in such a way as to perhaps scare  the viewer also.

---

Joy: At the end of the film, Annette Crosbie sheds tears of joy as she looks out over the impressive grounds of her new home. A close up enables the viewer to see the tears welling up in her eyes and the smile that forms on her lips as she takes in the scene.

---