This afternoon I had the urge to watch a movie.  We have Netflix, which enable us to watch some movies instantly on our computer.  I was in the mood for a John Hughes movie, like "Pretty in Pink" or "Sixteen Candles", but none of his movies were available for instant viewing.  I'm not a big fan of Molly Ringwald and her pouty, sneery mouth, but those movies were a big part of my teenage years and I have been thinking a lot about them lately.  I kept looking to see what I might like to view.

I started "Mr. Wrong" because I love Ellen DeGeneres and thought it might be funny, but it seemed kinda cheesy and I didn't feel like watching her in a straight role, so I browsed some more.

The other night, my neighbors were talking about the show, "Dexter", which is about a psychopath who is able to understand inside the minds of other psychopaths and then kills them vigilante style.  Season 2 was available, so I started it.  I barely got through the highlights of Season 1 when I decided murder wasn't what I wanted to see.

I watched a bit of a comedy special by Patton Oswalt, someone I had never heard of before.  His style was described as a "dark, sarcastic view of life".  I found him whiny and a downer.  I didn't laugh once.  I forwarded closer to the end and still didn't enjoy it  so I went back to browsing.

Netflix posts little suggestions of movies you might like and one caught my eye.  It was called "I've Loved You So Long" and I recognized the actress on the cover, although I couldn't say what I have seen her in. 

I decided to give it a try.  Turns out, 4th time was the charm. 

I love movies that are big on emotion and character interactions.  I don't need bombs or guns or kidnapping or murder or slapstick to pull me in.  I like human  interactions and emotions.  This movie did it. 

Juliette has been in prison for 15 years for a murder.  You find out later in the movie that it was for the murder of her 7-year-old son.  Since our son is 9, I was immediately on guard.  I didn't want to expose myself to a story in which a mom kills her kid because she is emotionally unstable.  The character had already pulled me in, however, and didn't seem to be that type of person, so I kept with it.  She had been recently released from prison and her sister, Lea, picks her up at the airport and takes her back to her home where she lives with her husband, her sweet, but mute father-in-law, and two adopted Vietnamese daughters.  The sisters have little to say to each other.  Lea tries very hard to be friendly and upbeat.  She was a teenager when her sister committed the crime and was "brainwashed" by her parents to not stay in contact with her older sister.  She later shares that her parents forbade her to speak about or write to Juliette.  When introducing Lea to new friends, they said she was their only daughter.  Juliette never had any visitors in prison.  There is a touching scene, however, where Lea shows Julie all the years of diaries where the only entry was Juliette's name and the number of days she had been imprisoned.  Lea may not have been in contact with her sister, but she never stopped thinking about her.

Lea's husband is a bit nervous about having his murderess sister-in-law around his children and he and Lea fight about various subjects quite a few times, all in regards to her relationship with Juliette. 

Meanwhile, beautiful Juliette is very withdrawn and sad.  She is gentle with the girls, until the older one (who is 8) wants to read her a poem.  Juliette gets very angry and leaves the daughter's room. 

She sleeps with a picture of her son under her pillow, along with a piece of paper.  On one side of the paper is a poem written to her by her son.  On the other side are medical levels of some sort.  One day, Lea's younger daughter finds the picture and gives it to her mother, who becomes very emotional.  She finds the paper and makes a copy of the medical levels and asks a friend to decipher them.  She later learns that they represent a person with terminal cancer.

At the end of the movie, Juliette shares with Lea how she "kidnapped" her son towards the end of his life, when he could barely move and was crying from the pain and gave him a lethal shot before lying beside him all night.  During her trial she was silent.  In jail she was silent.  She says, "Explaining is looking for excuses.  Death has no excuses."  "The worst prison is the death of a child.  You never get out of it." 

This was yet another movie I enjoyed watching alone.  I am a weeper and can handle emotionally difficult movies.  They make E uncomfortable oftentimes.  I sopped up my tears with my t-shirt until I broke down and paused the movie to search out a box of Kleenex. 

This movie took place in France (subtitled) and I was drawn into their home.  It was beautiful.  Simple, but welcomingl, with books everywhere.  Lea is a literary professor.  Her co-worker, Michel, takes a fancy to Juliette.  As they are walking one evening she says to him, "You always see the world through books, don't you?"  He replies, "They've helped me a lot.  Sometimes, they help more than people."  I smiled and immediately reached for a scrap of paper on which to wtite that down.  I find this to be true in my life on a daily basis. 

It was a beautiful movie and I am very glad to have discovered it.  I found the transitions calming.  The storyline was heartwrenching with a very hopeful ending.  I would recommend it.  I didn't give it all away.  I promise.