Widow of St. Pierre (2000)

8/10

jotix10014 November 2005

The actions of two men on a drunken spree turns out to be fatal for the man who is being harassed because he dies as a consequence of a fight with his two tormentors. Both men are apprehended and condemned to die as punishment for their actions. The way to die is beheading by guillotine, or "the widow" in the vernacular.

Thus begins this story that director Patrice Leconte directed, based on the screen play by Claude Faraldo. The story is set in the remote island of Saint Pierre, off the coast of Newfoundland. This is a hostile environment settled by the French. Saint Pierre boasts a lot of widows who have survived the rigors of the climate and the hard lives their husbands led.

Into this milieu we find a military captain and his wife. Both are Parisians and appear to be compassionate, at heart. When Neel, the surviving drunk is brought to be kept in a cell within the military quarters of the island, the wife, Madame La, takes an interest in the man. With her husband's consent, she asks for his help in tending a green house in the premises and other errands.

Neel and Madame La are at simple view, just opposites. The kindness Neel sees in her, transforms him. Madame La even goes to help him learn to read. All these actions don't sit well with the rest of the inhabitants and the people in the government who demand a guillotine is sent over and have him execute the prisoner.

The film works because the brilliant performance of Juliette Binoche, who as Madame La, makes her mark in the picture. Her compassion for Neel is genuine; in her heart she believes this man, a product of the environment in which he was born, shows qualities that no one has seen in him.

Emir Kusturica, a noted film director himself, is also one of the assets of the movie. Mr. Kusturica is a large man with unkempt looks, who is totally believable as Neel. His interaction with Madame La turns from gratitude into a noble love that is not meant to be.

The other principal is Daniel Auteuil who is perfect as the captain, the husband of Madame La, who is outraged by what he perceives to be the wrong punishment for the accused Neel. In spite of the menacing presence of Neel next to his wife, he trusts her as he knows her kind heart belongs to him only.

"La veuve de Saint Pierre" is a great movie that will satisfy viewers in search of a different story. Patrice Leconte has directed with panache as he takes us to see the beauty of Saint Pierre, something that is so bleak, yet it's a place that has a magnetic attraction as we watch the film unfold.

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8/10

Unexpected turns

Georgiana25 April 2001

I was most impressed with the visual language of this movie that does not waste words to show emotions. The tensions are well reflected in the play of the actors, whose gestures, shrugs and smiles say more than a thousand lines.

Another interesting feature of the movie is that it does not follow the easy path of romance that is "expected" by the public. In turn, it exposes a world which is cruel, unfair, where justice is determined by personal interests and where those who fight the system are seen as mad and excluded from the "high society".

It is a movie about the determination to fight for something one believes in!

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7/10

the perfect film for a dark & stormy night

utzutzutz1 May 2001

THE WIDOW OF ST.-PIERRE may not be a great film, but amidst a crop of mediocre current releases, it's a fine effort that boasts a hardworking cast, awesome costumes and sets, terrific cinematography and excellent direction. For those unlikely to stay in and read MOBY DICK, the combination of austere location, mid-19th-century maritime theme, and the Reaper looming o'er the ocean tides offers a satisfying divertissement on a cloudy Sunday afternoon.

Based on actual court records, the plot begins after a Parisian military captain, Jean (Daniel Auteuil), and his new wife, Madame La (Juliette Binoche), arrive on an isolated French isle off the coast of Newfoundland, where widows outnumber balmy days 50 to 1. One night, two blind-drunk men brutally knife a man to find out if he's `fat or just big.' The court sentences instigator Neel Auguste (Yugoslav director Emir Kusturica) to death by guillotine, `the widow,' in French parlance. But the remote fishing island does not possess the instrument of destruction that its French rulers dictate and must obtain a loaner from Martinique. While awaiting its arrival, the government locks Neel in a dark cell and entrusts him to the care of the Captain and Madame La.

An MSW waiting to happen, Madame has a weakness for `desperate cases.' She asks Neel to build her a greenhouse and tend her plants, a challenging request in this hardscrabble environment. As the Parisian belle negotiates her homesickness and the austerity of her surroundings by cultivating her garden, Neel confronts his own banishment from society and cultivates his compassion. This is one of several lovely parallelisms director Patrice Leconte teases out.

The sexual tension between Madame and Neel, though enacted subtly, is nevertheless palpable. During a reading lesson, their fingers brush while scanning a page. As Neel scarfs down her soup in a mildly bestial manner, she looks on lovingly. And when he asks her why she so nurtures him, she replies, `We change, whatever we do. I am sure of that.'

Meanwhile, the fisherfolks' tongues are wagging-ever cautioning Madame's loving husband about the duo's blossoming relationship. The Captain, however, venerates his wife's `humanism' and trusts her enough not to interfere. He is another wonderful character, both strong and sensitive, passionate in his love of his wife, unwilling to back down in his defense of their collective ideals.

Both Binoche and Kusturica prove more than equal to their roles. Binoche imbues her character with much more depth than that of Vianne in CHOCOLAT. With her limpid brown eyes and achingly empathic face, she elevates this personage to the level of classic tragic heroine. Kusturica, given a part that begs overacting, never wrings out our emotions, yet shows he possesses true remorse for his actions and a heart kinder still than that of his benefactors.

Most memorable is the set. Shot in Nova Scotia and Quebec, the film uses clapboard and stone buildings, often snow-salted, as an apt metaphor for the government's rigidity in refusing to commute Neel's sentence, despite his overwhelming popularity in the village as a doer of good deeds. Clearly the film excoriates capital punishment, with such dialogue as Madame's fervent cry, `They aren't punishing the same man they sentenced!'

This widow's walk proceeds at a leisurely pace, perhaps a mite too slowly for 21st-century attention spans. But overall, if you like a good, dark tragedy, pick a dreary night and go.

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"Perfect Love Casteth out Fear"

csm237 March 2003

The ancient Greeks, gifted with an abstract way of thinking that was always trying to come down to earth and clothe itself with the commonplace occurrences of everyday life, did not have one all-embracing term for love, a we do, but broke it down into four types: affection (storge), friendship (phileo), sex (eros) and charity (agapao). And probably not since the ancient Greeks has a love story come along which not only divides love into its four types, but also weaves them, with enormous skill, into a single story. The Widow of Saint-Pierre is a love story of the tragic Greek proportions. It's an enormously beautiful movie, a story that gains power with every viewing. And for that reason, it's one of the most remarkable videos I've seen in a very long time.

We've all seen a plethora of films from Hollywood, which basically confine love, and the act of love, to eros. We all know the well-worn script. But what would it look like to view a film in which a relationship expresses all four types of love, and throbbing full force? I would be giving too much away if I were to tell you how these four types of love are rolled up so tightly into a single relationship, but that's exactly what we seen in the liaison between Jean, the Captain (Auteuil) and his wife, Pauline (Binoche). It's intensely interesting, because the performances are pitch-perfect. Even the cowardly bureaucrats, who feel threatened by the captain and his wife, are a picture of cowardly perfection. Their motives are all too human, all too real. But so is the unfathomable love they don't understand, and fear.

One of the things I really appreciate about this film is the way it expresses all forms of love as having boundaries. Jean and Pauline are not clinging vines. What we see is a mature, healthy relationship, each partner respecting the unique characteristics of the other. What a contrast to the infantile clinging vine romances out of Hollywood!

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7/10

redemption, forgiveness, love and death on Saint Pierre a hundred and fifty years ago

dbdumonteil17 December 2005

I have always been a Patrice Leconte devotee. His career in which incoherence and eclecticism get on well together (perhaps that's why he's often slated by French critics) is one of the most fruitful you could dream of, even if French mainstream public often associates his name with "les Bronzés" (1978), a commercial hit which put him on the map as well as the actors, the famous troupe of the Splendid and tends to overshadow the rest of his prolific career which spawned treasures like "Tandem" (1987), "Monsieur Hire" (1989) or "Le Mari De la Coiffeuse" (1990).

This vehicle "La Veuve De Saint Pierre" (2000) was originally to be directed by another veteran of French cinema Alain Corneau (who sadly shot the insipid "Prince Du Pacifique" that year, perhaps the nadir of his career) but he turned down the role due to disputes with the producers. So, Patrice Leconte inherited the project. His choice was motivated by the desire to work with one of the two main roles, Juliette Binoche (he had teamed up with Daniel Auteuil the previous year for "La Fille Sur Le Pont, 1999)

The title of the film has a double meaning: the "veuve" refers to Binoche after her husband's demise. The opening sequence presents her to us in her mourning garb (Leconte's work is served by lavish costumes). The audience knows that she is the "veuve" and will discover in the long flashback, how she has lost her husband. But a "veuve" is also a slang word for the sinister guillotine and it has a tongue-in-cheek connotation: Saint Pierre unlike France hasn't got a death instrument and must have one. All the time, the island is deprived of a guillotine, it remains a "veuve".

There are clearly two sides. On the one hand, the officers' who govern the island and are die-hards of the death sentence and on the other hand, the private triangle which encompasses Auteuil, Binoche and Kusturica. Between the two poles, the impending threat of the execution with the recurring images of the ship sailing across the Atlantic with on board the guillotine. The scenario eschews the tempting trap of the Manicheism and the officers aren't caricatures. As a matter of fact, one of the main thrusts of the film is to deride the leaders of the island who seek at all costs to keep the death sentence and their obstinacy is made ludicrous by the postpone of the sentence and the last words of the voice over contain grim details which give a slap to one of Doctor Guillotin's famous words: "a painless death is a progress for humanity". Moreover, they prove to be unscrupulous because when a new inhabitant settles on the island, they entrust him the role of the executioner without taking care of his opinion.

In the private triangle, madame La by guiding Neel on the way of redemption is full of condescension and solicitude but she's a complex character. Her reasons and motivations to redeem Neel are rather elusive even if she says (I don't remember the accurate cue): "I think human soul is unpredictable and can be able to become conscientious and intelligent. A little gratifying cue which should have been more construed and fleshed out and remains an inkling. Then, why would she encourage the sacrifice of such a devoted husband to try to save a convicted killer whereas it's doomed to failure? Is it a response to her husband's love? (If Auteuil sacrifices himself it's for love for his wife and respect for Neel). Certainly and if so, Leconte's piece of work is a novel and quirky approach on the relationship between husband and wife, a quite notable feat for an author who has seldom studied this topic in his filmography, except maybe in "Le Mari De La Coiffeuse".

Buoyed by a more than palatable cast with a special mention to Emir Kusturica who was a discerning choice because he could convey vulnerability and fragility to his persona of great strapping man, "La Veuve De Saint Pierre" may be derivative if we consider the theme of redemption and the thrust quoted in the fourth paragraph but its treatment is a far cry from Hollywood's formulaic conventions. How to rank it in Leconte's uneven but usually riveting filmography? It isn't on a par with his towering achievements but stands out as a more than palatable flick which however could have gained by being more deepened.

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9/10

A GREAT, GRIPPING GRITTY FILM

rps-221 May 2002

You have to watch the odd foreign film such as this to understand just how far Hollywood has strayed from cinematic honesty. This is a simple, beautifully done, superbly acted piece of theatre set in one of the world's least known places, the fog shrouded French island of St. Pierre, off Newfoundland. It's a simple yet gripping film with an intriguing plot, almost a morality play. There is visceral human drama, much mystery and wonderful soul stirring pathos. And how nice to see a movie without the mandatory Hollywood happy ending. A well spent evening!

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7/10

Fine acting, dubious plot

Æthelred8 April 2001

Warning: Spoilers

(WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS! DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE FILM.)

Daniel Auteuil and Juliette Binoche turn in fine performances in this killer-with-a-heart-of-gold melodrama. But the plot is unrealistic.

Auguste Neel was in fact guillotined in Saint-Pierre in the nineteenth century after waiting months for the means of execution to arrive from Martinique. You can see the guillotine in Saint-Pierre's modern and beautifully designed museum. (Saint-Pierre et Miquelon, a French territory hard by the coast of southern Newfoundland, is an absorbing place to visit; I was there in 1999.)

In the movie, Neel wanders around the island after receiving his death sentence for murder, performing one good deed after another -- some heroic, others mundane, but all saintly. Was the French penal system really so inflexible that no one would commute his sentence despite all his good works, including saving another's life? That's the way it's portrayed.

Neel would have been even more saintly to take the islanders up on one of the many chances they gave him to escape to "les Anglais" (i.e., Newfoundland, 10 miles away across a channel). In the end, his self-imposed martyrdom proves foolish, for it leads not only to his own execution, but to that of Daniel Auteuil's character as well.

Nevertheless, the film is beautifully photographed and the acting is fine. I give it 7 out of 10.

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8/10

A beautifully austere film about character.

=G=1 November 2001

As the best of French cinema does so adroitly, "The Window of Saint-Pierre" tells most of it's story laconically with knowing looks and subtle behaviors while the story it tells is a relentlessly plodding drama of unspoken words and the emotions they evoke. "Widow..." is more about integrity, honor, love, and other intangibles than it is about its relatively simple storyline and the characters involved. A beautifully crafted somber film, "Widow..." is recommended for mature audiences because a measure of maturation is required to appreciate all this austere film has to offer.

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6/10

Too dull, and Binoche is wasted

zetes4 September 2005

One man kills another senselessly on the French island of St. Pierre off the coast of Newfoundland and is sentenced to be executed by guillotine. Unfortunately, the island has no guillotine and has to import one from Martinique. The murderer will live for several months before it arrives. In the meantime, the wife of the army captain, played by Juliette Binoche, takes an interest in the murderer, played by director Emir Kusturica, and helps him become a better man. By the time the guillotine arrives, the people of St. Pierre no longer want the execution. But the government is insistent, as it would make them look bad to their French superiors. It's a great premise. Unfortunately, Leconte does little with it. It's fairly boring through most of its run, and its points are obvious and not especially interesting. If the film was specifically meant to be anti-capital punishment, it cheats too much. The man Kusturica kills has no character, no family, no one who loves him. He's killed basically because he's a fat nobody and he's quickly forgotten. After the incident, Kusturica is basically a perfect gentleman. It's not too hard to argue against executing this fellow. Juliette Binoche, one of my favorite actresses ever, only barely gets to demonstrate her considerable talents. I do like her wardrobe, though.

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9/10

Another great film by Patrice Leconte

LeRoyMarko27 March 2001

Neel Auguste (played by Kusturica) is condemn to death for a murder on the little island of Saint-Pierre, which was, and still is, a territory of France. The guillotine (commonly called «la Veuve») is the instrument of death in France at that time. But the island doesn't have its «Veuve» and one is to be sent from Martinique. In the waiting, the convict is kept in prison at the captain's (played beautifully by Daniel Auteuil) residence. The captain's wife (Binoche) is convinced that the murderer deserves a second chance and she's working towards that goal. In a typical American-style movie, the two would have fallen in love and ended up in the same bed. But not in this movie where Binoche is shown more as a humanist. I gave it a 9.

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7/10

Cruel justice by mid 1850 in France

esteban17471 November 2002

One must admit that the world should see more new French and Italian films, which notably differ to those coming from Hollywood. Yes, they are slow in their sequences, not as fast and simple as several Hollywood films, but the quality is there, the style is another thing and it is just a matter to get used to them. This is a very good film, where a convict becomes a kind of protegé of the captain of the French island. The convict notices the admiration of Captain's wife and the captain also noticed it, but left the things going as they were. A guillotine has to be brought to the island to kill the convict, but it was hardly difficult to find out a person able to manipulate the guillotine. Finally the captain, under the strong influence of his wife, decided not to allow this 'crime', he was arrested and later judged and killed. The convict was also killed. The captain's wife saw how difficult it is to survive in a 'civilized' society when you fight for good causes and the wealth for all.

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8/10

Beautiful Story of Rehabilitation and Intolerance

claudio_carvalho8 September 2009

In 1849, in the Archipelago of Saint-Pierre et Miquelon, the drunken Ariel Neel Auguste (Emir Kusturica) and his partner Louis Ollivier (Reynald Bouchard) kill for a futile motive (to see if he is fat or just big) the fishing boat captain Coupard (Michel Daigle). Nell, who stabbed the victim, is sentenced to die with his head severed in the guillotine while Louis is sentenced to hard labor. During the transportation to the prison under the custody of Captain Jean (Daniel Auteuil), there is an accident and Louis dies. While spending his days in the cell waiting for the guillotine and the executioner, Neel is invited by the captain's wife Mrs. Pauline (Juliette Binoche) to help her in her garden and becomes her protégé. Later he has a process of rehabilitation helping the locals in minor works and becomes very popular in the island. When he saves the building Café du Nord and her owner from sinking in the sea, his popularity increases and nobody but the governor and politicians of the council wants his death. Neel marries Eleontine Jeanne-Marie, but sooner he is informed that the ship Marie Galante has just left Martinique bringing a guillotine. Now the Governor and politicians need to find an executioner in the population to execute the sentence.

"La Veuve de Saint-Pierre" is a beautiful dramatization of a story of rehabilitation and intolerance. I do not know whether this event is partially true or not – there are references in Internet to this story but in sites that I can not trust – but this movie is wonderful. The story and screenplay are engaging and very well written with powerful lines; the direction of Patrice Leconte and the performances are top- notch, with Juliette Binoche extremely beautiful and elegant as usual and showing a magnificent chemistry with Daniel Auteuil; the cinematography and costumes are wonderful. Based on my adjectives, it is unnecessary to say that I loved this movie. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "A Viúva de Saint-Pierre" ("The Widow of Saint-Pierre")

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7/10

Very Unconventional Relationship Triangle and Setting

noralee10 October 2005

"The Widow of St. Pierre (Veuve de Saint-Pierre)" is a very unconventional relationship triangle, with resonances of "Dead Man Walking."

Juiliette Binoche is much more interesting and complex here than she is in "Chocolat" as a Lady Bountiful who is pushing redemption with more than a tinge of sensuality.

Daniel Auteil who usually plays hapless contemporary men at first looks as out of place in a period costume drama as Harvey Keitel does, but he brings the intellectual and moral sensibility of the 20th century to a true story from an earlier one.

Love and devotion--to a spouse and to duty-- are quietly played out against sophisticated political gamesmanship of a small town.

The cinematography in Atlantic Canada is beautiful; the pregnant pause close-ups are as claustrophobic as living on the island outpost. It was partly filmed at one of my all-time favorite historic recreations at Louisbourg in Cape Breton, Newfoundland.

(originally written 3/18/2001)

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3/10

Complete movie (director-editor) failure

arsene-lupen10 June 2020

Warning: Spoilers

I wish I could not have found this movie as I spent two nights to watch (my wife fell asleep the first night as the movie was so entertaining).

This movie is like you create a 4 hours movie then because of cost cut, you reduce its length to half or less, cutting out scenes randomly. So, at the end, you have a "sort of" movie but most of the time it doesn't make too much sense to the audience what the actors and actresses do. I always had the feeling that something would come at the next scene that gives explanation on what is happening and why it is happening... but nothing came unfortunately.

So, two drunk people stabbed someone to see "he was fat or just big". One of them is sentenced to death but there is no executioner and guillotine in the village so their order one (hopefully comes with an executioner as well). From some reason the wife of the local military station's captain fall in "love?" with the prisoner (the movie doesn't explain why and how, it just happens suddenly) but the lady is still having strong sexual scenes with his husband.

The captain's wife asks his husband to use the prisoner as a support worker around the house, later to support over villagers and more and more. But this "angel" work is not too well worked out. The captain gets across with anyone who questions why the prisoner has an "easy life" at the prison and why he monopolises the prisoner for his own wife only. And the audience just don't understand (me and my wife) what is happening and why. But everyone starts to love/like the prisoner in the village. He is just beauty and full of charm despite he says 20 sentences only during the whole movie.

Of course, at the end the village's mayor reports the act of the captain and his wife as "mutiny" to the authorities. They came, bring a "IKEA like" guillotine (you still need to work on it and assemble it) and it just does not work at the end. The authorities dismiss the captain (the mayor's letter has been delivered) and execute him. There were lots of questions in us while we were watching this movie. Why does the captain's wife insist so hard to receive from and give support to the prisoner? Why does the captain fight with anyone who brings up monopolising the prisoner? What is this movie about? Why are we still watching this movie?

Big disappointment.

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Worth renting, don't watch the dubbed version!

dallas_viewer10 March 2003

This was a nice little film--not great, but nice--and on a grading scale, I'd give it a B or a B-.

Two points to add to what's already been said.

First, for those of you thinking of renting this movie (I rented it on DVD), DO NOT WATCH IT WITH THE ENGLISH DUBBING (available via the "Special Features - Audio" section of the DVD).

The dubbing is horrible; voices sound dubbed, rather than seeming to come from the actors themselves. Worse, I guess in order to make the words seem to match more closely with the movements of the actors' lips, the English dialogue is (IMHO) significantly different from the French! I watched the movie with English dubbing first, then in French with English subtitles. There is actually one point in the movie where someone asks, "Why did so-and-so do that?" The answer is completely different depending on whether you are watching the English or French translation.

The movie is best watched in French--hearing the actors' real voices works so much better than hearing the dubbed voices--with English subtitles, if you need the translation.

Second point: I was disappointed that no backstory (with respect to Le Capitain and La Capitaine) was forthcoming. I thought that the unfolding tale hinted at some sort of secret, something in his (and maybe her) past, that would shed more light on their current actions. In short, I felt that the couple's motivations and character were not sufficiently explored. And if this was because the movie wasn't particularly *about* motivations and in-depth character study, then I actually think that I would have preferred more overtly expressive actors. Enigmatic looks (IMO, that's what they were) without explanation don't really work for me.

Having said that, the movie was still a cut above your ordinary film, and worth the viewing.

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6/10

cinema de qualite fifty years after

gans6 March 2001

A costume piece, high-gloss cinema de papa, with lots of pseudo-creative camera work trying to make us forget it. The potentially interesting story is told sentimentally and superficially, never probing the ultimate ironies (sexual, moral) of the relationship among the three principals. The secondary characters are mostly mean-spirited caricatures rather than real people--nor is our sympathy for the murderer (the only character with real substance) tempered by any for his victim. Lots of loud noise and sea shots straight out of an MGM pirate epic, but the obvious reference is the French 50s, with Darrieux and Philipe replaced by Binoche and Auteuil. An objectionable (and wholly unrealistic) feature is the insistent use of vulgarities, as though 19th century men--and even women!--spoke in polite society the way one might in a brothel. It's hard to believe a French director could get such a kick out of the word "merde."

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7/10

Ok

W_L17 March 2001

This is solid 7 out of 10. I felt as tho we weren't given enough details of the "story", before joining in on the movie. I think if there was flashback or two, or if the movie began about a year or two before the actions took place, the current situation would have meant more. I didn't feel I knew any of the characters, so I was not able to really care all that much to what happened to them. Acting was suburb, and the premise was right on. No sugar coating in the ending, and the costumes and "feel" of the scenery brought me to the 1800s. Overall, it was good, not great.

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10/10

Spectacular

Aleona11 April 2001

I loved this movie! It moved me, made me laugh and cry and appreciate love, hate, and compassion. Juliette Binoche is the narrator of this story, she is the one who presents the events from her perspective, but incorporates other into it. This movie has wonderful symbolism that is expressed in so many ways. Whether it is a horse, a ship, or people marching, the different expression of movement and the implication of each and everyone of those is vividly portrayed. Also Binoche's view and adoration of her husband and her compassion to the prisoner is so real, so touching. At times, the viewer along with the narrator seems uncertain of feelings expressed toward Jean and Neel and the camera plays with the viewer's mind allowing him to suspect the worst and be pleasantly surprised. This movie has a very gloomy setting, but really the feelings expressed, the magnitude of love is so powerful that the dull surroundings do not strain the viewer. I thought this movie was phenomenal because it expressed the best of human nature in such real ways. It showed that not everything is black and white, not everyone is jealous and vengeful and finally people do have a sense of obligation and honor. I would strongly recommend this movie to anyone who is up for a serious, beautiful and sad movie.

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6/10

Interesting but slow-moving tale of a man's possible redemption...

Doylenf16 September 2006

Can a man who is guilty of murder (EMIR KUSTURICA) possibly be spared from the guillotine by a French women (JULIETTE BINOCHE) whose husband rules the French island of St. Pierre and has sent for a guillotine to shipped for the express purpose of beheading the guilty man.

And so, while all the islanders agree that punishment is the only option, the Captain's wife takes a shine to the ruggedly handsome, strapping fellow (who resembles a young Jean Gabin). He turns out to be vulnerable and sweet beneath his outward rough appearance and she sees that he can be rehabilitated if she's given the chance to work with him. That's the essence of the story, and unfortunately the resolution is never really firmly established but remains rather ambiguous.

All the performances are of the highest order, especially Juliette Binoche and Emir Kusturica. Their chemistry is palatable and keeps the viewer hooked to see what will finally happen.

Well worthwhile despite a certain slowness in the telling and sure to appeal to those with a taste for the artistic.

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9/10

A superb exposition of the anti-capital punishment case.

mzankel23 March 2001

Patrice LeConte colors this intelligent film in subdued hues in taking on the somber issue of capital punishment. Juliette Binoche portrays Pauline, the sympathetic wife of the local garrison commander on a bleak French Island off Newfoundland. A man who has brutally killed another is sentenced to death, but the village must await the arrival of a guillotine and executioner. Those are the rules. As Pauline takes the cause of the murderer, Neel(Emir Kusturica), as her own, he wins the affection of the small, insular community with his good works. But the hide-bound, dour council members of the village insist they must carry out their duty. Pauline's husband, Jean (Daniel Auteuil) supports her every device to seek Neel's freedom. The sexual tension among the three is palpable; the danger that the fundamentalist Pauline poses to her husband sits on the film like an enveloping cloud seeking to blur this lucid discussion of the difficulties posed by capital punishment cases even where the prisoner is clearly guilty of a brutal crime. All of the acting performances are sterling, well contained and bearing the weight of the fatalistic outcome. For those who like a bit of intelligence in a beautifully acted and directed film, notwithstanding the sad story, this is a film to be seen.

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6/10

Historical French Canadian Ambiance

PeterJordan9 August 2006

Warning: Spoilers

The Widow of St Pierre is set in 19th Century French Novia Scotia or Newfound Land. The premise of the story is of a sailor who, on a somewhat drunken escapade with a colleague, murders a man and is arrested, found guilty and sentenced to death - The only crux of course is that there is no guillotine nor an executioner to carry out the execution and so a request must be sent to France for the necessaries to carry out the sentence.

In the meantime the prisoner is detained at the states pleasure in a cell in the local police captain's (Daniel Auteil) home. The captain is a quiet independent man dedicated to his job, who loves his wife more than anything and will do anything she asks, so when Madame le Captain (Juliette Binoche) takes sympathy on the prisoner, reckoning that everyone deserves a second chance, her wish is granted and the prisoner is soon helping her with her greenhouse and doing good deeds all over the island.

The real turning point comes when the prisoner stops a runaway cart saving a villagers life in the process, and soon the majority of the ordinary folk are adamant that this man has truly repented and that the sentence should no longer be carried out. However the guillotine has been dispatched from Martinique and the authorities are adamant that the will of the Republique be served.

The climax of the film deals with the conflict and tensions between the ordinary people and the authorities along with the developing relationships between the prisoner and Madame and The Captain (and of course the gossip and innuendo surrounding the relationship) and how the whole thing resolves itself. It is one of those pleasant films dealing artily with duty, steadfastness, honour and dignity and it's carried off nicely albeit perhaps a little stretched out and gloomily in the end.

None the less I'd give it 6/10 for ambiance and the acting of the main characters especially Auteil (Previously best known as Ugolin from The classic Pagnol Florette Movies) who, like a good Bordeaux, is only improving as he ages.

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9/10

A moral tale

DennisLittrell24 November 2008

Warning: Spoilers

BEWARE OF SPOILERS!

In this French language film (with English subtitles), Juliette Binoche plays what some today might call a "bleeding heart liberal," maybe even a head-strong bleeding heart liberal. Her name is Pauline and her husband Jean (Daniel Auteuil) is the Captain of a troop of soldiers on the island of St. Pierre off the coast of Newfoundland. The year is 1849.

One night two of the local peasants get drunk and have an argument about whether a certain man of the island is fat or just big. As a joke they go to his cottage and rouse him from his dinner table with calls of "fat!" and "big" until comes out to investigate with a knife in his hands for protection. In the ensuing confrontation one of the men holds the big guy from behind while the other (Ariel Neel Auguste, played by Emir Kusturica) knocks the knife from his hand, picks it up, and in a kind of madness cuts the man open to see--as they later testify at the trial--whether he is really fat or just big.

As it happens, Neel is condemned to death, but can't be executed because the law requires that he be beheaded and there is no guillotine on the island, nor is there an executioner. Since he can hardly run away from this snowy island, Pauline wants him out of his cell and at work helping her around the house, maybe as a gardener. Jean, who loves Pauline extravagantly, agrees and Neel becomes Pauline's protégé. She wants to reform him and teach him to read, etc. The tension in the film builds as her good intentions run afoul of the island's governing authorities. Through it all Jean stands steadfast by his wife in a most heroic way.

I won't say anymore about the plot. What interests me more is the motivation of Pauline in helping Neel. Is she motivated by generosity of heart or by her desire to be a person doing good? This is an ancient question. Do we do good because that is our nature or because we are fulfilling a desire to be good? Furthermore, is Pauline's heart filled with human love for Neel or does she in fact have a yen for him?

Director Patrice Leconte gives us plenty of reason to be skeptical. When Pauline is sitting practically on Neel's lap while teaching him to read, the camera closes in on their fingers as they trace the lines in the text. The fingers get closer and closer together until they touch and even mingle a bit.

Cut immediately to a scene through a bedroom door: two naked figures in vigorous sexual union. At first we can't see who they are, and it is hard not to imagine that it is Pauline and Neel in adulterous embrace. However, it is Pauline and her husband, Jean.

In another scene the bored women of the island are seen talking about how close Pauline and Neel have gotten and how this must inspire Jean to be a better lover; but in fact we can see that what the presence of Neel is doing is lighting a fire under Pauline.

Captain Jean is an entirely admirable character who loves his wife. Neel is also admirable in that he loves Pauline but doesn't make any moves on her. He becomes something of a hero when he saves the building of a café on wheels being moved from crashing. She is of course the most talked-about person on the island, the source of most of the gossip. As we watch the film unfold there is a sense of doom coming. We know something terrible is going to happen; we just don't know what or to whom.

In the final analysis I guess we can say that Pauline--who, in the framing device, narrates the events from memory--got not what she deserved—for no one deserves what happened to her; nor can we attribute what happens to some kind of fatalism. Instead the tragedy can be seen as the direct result of her compromised behavior. Or perhaps we can make a more generous interpretation and say that no good deed ever goes unpunished.

This film can also be seen as a tract against capital punishment since Neel is basically a good man who made a bad mistake. He is clearly a worthwhile member of the community. He is also repentant even to the point of believing that he must pay for his sin in accordance with the law.

See this for director Patrice Laconte who has a nice touch with historical period pieces and directs with the kind of attention to detail and story that rank him among the very best auteurs of the French cinema. I also highly recommend his Ridicule (1996) and La fille sur la pont (1999).

(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon!)

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7/10

Sometimes good people do bad things

ljwickert4 August 2001

(Subtitled) Historical French movie about a man, who in his drunken stupor, murders someone, and is sentenced to the guillotine, but has to wait until one is shipped from the homeland to their colony. He ends up being a well-liked townsman, who saves a woman's life, and helps all in need, so the colony doesn't want him to be executed. You have to be in the right mood to like this. C+

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1/10

I don't like being told how to think and feel + Kusturica ruins it

filmalamosa8 July 2012

This movie takes place in 1849 on St. Pierre. It is about a murderer who committed a murder in a drunken state not really knowing what he was doing. Such a person might get 8 years or something these days. But you have to remember that in 1848 you were sent to Australia in chains if you stole a loaf of bread. The wife of the captain in charge of holding the condemned man feels he should be rehabilitated and let loose. The whole movie becomes a treatise on unfair penal sentences.

My problem with the movie is not that I think the man deserved to be executed, but rather the one sided manipulative propaganda approach used by the director.

The movie degenerates into endless obvious manipulation. Every facial expression in every crowd is controlled to show the appropriate emotion. There are constant cuts to the ship bringing the guillotine. Suddenly everyone loves this guy no one will be the executioner etc... It is not believable.

A huge part of the problem is that the actor playing the condemned (Emir Kusturica) is a disheveled large hulking unattractive middle aged cave man who just doesn't work in the role--negative charisma? Kusturica's chemistry is just wrong (maybe bad acting?)--for some reason there is absolutely nothing sympathetic about him walking around with a plaintive look. A younger more handsome man who could act could very well have made the movie work.

The Captain and his wife are Gods descended from some morally superior heaven we should all aspire to.

The whole message thing is just too heavy handed. The part in the beginning where they throw rocks at the prisoners is more like real human nature. This movie is terrible which is a pity.

I liked Patrice La Count's movie-- M. Hire-- and decided to watch more of his films unfortunately the others are also too much socially relevant treatises but this is by the far the worst one. REDICULE at least had large parts of it that were entertaining this film had nothing of the sort---unrelenting politically correct hammering against the death penalty etc etc etc...

It is a pity because the actors and Le Conte bring a lot to this--however no doubt about it Kusturica ruins it. He should stick to directing.

DO NOT RECOMMEND!

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