It's almost inevitable that some smart-ass is going to dismiss this as Rain Man with tits and equally inevitably the remainder of his/her comment can safely be ignored on the grounds that he/she knows as much about film, life, the human condition as George Doublya knows about nuclear physics. In a remarkably short space of time, some 75 minutes in the DVD version, director Lieven Debrauwer sets the scene, a small town in Belgium, and the back story of four sixty-something sisters, Martha (Julienne De Bruyn) who has taken it upon herself to provide both a home and tlc for Pauline (Dora van der Groen) who is described as a 66 year old child given that she is retarded; a third sister Cecile (Rosemarie Bergmans) has long since quit the small town for Brussells where she lives with her latest boyfriend whilst the fourth, Paulette (Ann Petersen) runs a ladie's haberdashery in the town. Whenever she is sent by Martha to the local butchers Pauline is unable to refrain from calling in to Paulette's shop and invariably embarrassing her. Barely has this been established than Martha dies leaving the problem of what to do with Pauline. Clearly a student of human nature or maybe just knowing her sisters too well Martha leaves a will that divides her home and money equally between Cecile and Paulette with the proviso they look after Pauline, alternatively they can institutionalize Pauline in which case she, Pauline, gets everything. We could have the makings of a mini King Lear here with Pauline being ejected from each cruel sister in turn but instead we get a rich, warm, comedy drama about love and families. Highly recommended.
Review of Pauline & Paulette
