LA VEUVE DE SAINT-PIERRE
(The Widow of Saint-Pierre)
2000

February 18, 2001

Camera Cinema Club

-->Directed by.....Patrice Leconte [Monsier Hire, Ridicule]
-->Written by.....Claude Faraldo
-->Cinematography by.....Eduardo Serra [Map Of The Human Heart, Jude, Unbreakable]
-->Madame La.....Juliette Binoche [The Unbearable Lightness Of Being, Damage, Three Colors: Blue, Three Colors: White, Three Colors: Red, The Horseman On The Roof, The English Patient, Chocolat]
-->Le Capitaine.....Daniel Auteuil [Jean de Florette, Manon des sources (Manon Of The Spring), Romuald et Juliette (Mama, There's A Man In Your Bed), Un coeur en hiver (A Heart In Winter), Ma saison preferee (My Favorite Season), La Reine Margot (Queen Margot)]
-->Neel Auguste.....Emir Kusturica
-->Le Gouverneur.....Michel Duchaussoy

Nominations: Cesar Award Best Actress Juliette Binoche, Cesar Award Best Supporting Actor Emir Kusturica, Golden Globe Best Foreign Language Film.

A fishing island man, sentenced to death for murder, awaits the arrival of a guillotine and executioner from Paris.

To settle a drunken bet, two fisherman stab a man to death. They are ashamed, ostracized from the town, and sentenced to death. One man dies soon after trial. The other one, under the guidance of La Madame, the wife of the ranking military commander, begins his rehabilitation, first with flowers in the prison yard, later with chores around the village, and finally by marrying one of the town's many widows. The governer and his cronies are afraid that the longer it takes Paris to send them a guillotine and executioner, the more the village will be against the execution. The Captain, completely in love with his wife, faces ridicule from the town elders as his wife successfully changes most villagers' minds.

Never has an actress' face been more loved by a Panaflex camera, than Juliette Binoche. In each and every role, she somehow emerges with intelligence, kindness, and incredible beauty. She's not the most beautiful, or the sexiest, but she seems to be getting better and better looking as she gets older. She is magnificent in the role of the Captain's wife. It is clear she loves her husband deeply, but there is still room in her enormous heart for the prisoner. Speaking of the prisoner, he is played by Emir Kusturica, who is a director, with a great naturalness. He doesn't say much but his eyes tell you how he thinks of his past indiscretions. He is a good man who made one mistake. This film takes the two most famous french actors (Binoche and Auteuil), gives them deep characters to play, and sits back while they inhabit the roles. Auteuil is mostly quiet, his face expressionless, but when his wife is verbally threatened, his eyes light up and he becomes an attack dog.

The story is unique as a man did admit to murder, and in the waiting period between sentencing and execution, he becomes nothing short of the town leader. His subsequent rehabilitation to most popular villager doesn't erase the fact that someone is dead at his hand. An American version of this film would have gone in completely predictable ways, with ill-advised love affairs and unrealistic government decisions. This one was made the way it should have been.