lastliberal She won an Oscar for The English Patient, and was nominated for Chocolat, but until you see this film, you have no concept of the incredible range of Juliette Binoche.The conviction, and pending execution of Neel Auguste (Emir Kusturica) for murder is but a subplot. This is really a love story between The Captain (Daniel Auteuil) and his wife (Juliette Binoche).You see it in their joking with each other, their affection, their passion, and the way he concedes to her requests ("What my husband wants is up to me!").She wants Auguste to help her in her garden, and assist in the community while he awaits execution, which cannot proceed until a guillotine arrives from France to the island.He becomes a hero to the townspeople, and is even planning to marry after getting a local girl (Catherine Lascault) pregnant. The town council is alarmed at his growing popularity and fear that he will be too loved to execute ("One man gets accused, and another gets punished."). The Captain continues to stand by his wife and ignore the governing officials, as the prisoner is his responsibility.The council even had to intimidate an immigrant (Ghyslain Tremblay) into taking the job of executioner, as no one on the island would do it.They ended up sending The captain back to France to be court-martialed to get the execution to proceed.Patrice Leconte, who gave us My Best Friend, Girl on the Bridge, and The hairdresser's husband, among other fine film, hits another home run with this one.

dbdumonteil 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.

jotix100 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.

writers_reign As a filmmaker Patrice Leconte has yet to disappoint me despite his eclecticism - I went to a large video/DVD outlet specifically to purchase his 'Tango', a delicious black comedy that neither Francis Veber nor Billy Wilder would be ashamed of, and whilst doing so came across this title at a giveaway price which means simply that I bought it sooner rather than later, having already seen and admired it on its initial release five years ago. It's about as far from Tango as it's possible to get but then Leconte's schtick is that he has no schtick and changes from film to film. I first heard of St Pierre when, as a kid, I discovered Damon Runyon and read his short story 'The Lily Of St Pierre' which is not, I suppose, a million miles away from this story. Leconte has shot a wonderfully stately opening in which we move ever so slowly towards Juliette Binoche, standing at the end of a long gallery and occasionally looking out at something below. As we approach her she begins a voice-over flashback of events in St Pierre and we naturally assume she is still there but how wrong can you be. Her story is the stuff of melodrama involving a gentle giant who indisputably murders a man before our eyes then undergoes a rehabilitation that stops just short of sainthood. The problem is that St Pierre is what vaudevillians used to call 'a wide part in the road' and lacks both a guillotine and an executioner which leaves military commander Jean (Daniel Auteuil) one one side and the town council on the other. The council want to play it by the book and keep Neels (Emir Kustarica)in chains in his 4 x 2 cell whilst Jean (and not least his wife Pauline (Juliette Binoche)want to cut him a little slack. As time passes Neels proves not only a superlative handyman but an all-around good egg so that when the guillotine finally arrives no one and his Uncle Max wants to see Neels get it where the chicken got the axe. In Hollywood chances are he would not only have got off but would have rode into the sunset with Binoche and the good wishes of Auteuil to speed them on their way, but this, thank God, is France so EVERYBODY gets it in the neck and in a final masterstroke Binoche is revealed to be not in St Pierre but in Paris watching as Auteuil is executed by firing squad in the courtyard beneath her window - a scene that echoes the end of Casque d'Or when Simone Signoret watches from an upstairs window as Serge Reggianni is also executed. Cavillers will claim that Neels IS a little too good to be true and find the nurturing metaphor in which Neels helps Pauline grow flowers/plants in a barren landscape laboured but overall there is far more to enjoy than to condemn here not least thee superb performances.