A contemporary adult tale about the road not taken; I’ve Been Waiting So Long marks a thoughtful scripting and directing debut for veteran film journalist Thierry Klifa. Handsome and talented name players fully inhabit their roles as comfortably well-off professionals who have been seared, for better or worse, by sexual passion, making this a consistently involving story about protagonists who are selfish but not hateful.
Alex (Patrick Bruel), a 40-year-old restaurateur, is thinking about settling down and raising a family with interior decorator Claire (Geraldine Pailhas) when he bumps into his first love, Jeanne (Nathalie Baye), after a 12year hiatus. Jeanne has come back to Paris to see her slightly ailing mother, Emilie (Danielle Darrieux). Alex has never truly gotten over the fact that Jeanne left him. He is a popular guywho runs his late mother’s traditional eatery with his depression-prone younger brother, Julien (Michael Cohen), and sturdy best friend Camille (Anouk Grinberg).
Refreshingly there are no histrionics, only human displays of joy, doubt and disarray. Director Klifa, who covered film for 11 years at Studio Magazine, elicits wonderful performances from his attractive cast.