THE WIDOW OF ST. PIERRE
Reviewed by Harvey Karten Lions Gate Films Director: Patrice Leconte Writer: Claude Faraldo Cast: Juliette Binoche, Daniel Auteuil, Emir Kusturica, Philippe Magnan, Michel Duchaussoy
When Texas Governor George W. Bush and his Pardons Board refused to reconsider the death sentence against Karla Faye Tucker, a national debate ensued and continued for, oh, about a couple of days after her execution. Though Tucker committed an atrocious axe-murder in her youth while high as a kite, she became a model prisoner, counseling others and proving among other things that she would be no threat to society even if released. Patrice Leconte explores this theme of murder and redemption, particularly society's ways of dealing with one particular killer who, like Karla Faye Tucker was out of his mind (on liquor) when he committed a senseless crime. His "The Widow of St. Pierre," following on the heels of the director's "The Girl on the Bridge," "Ridicule," "Monsieur Hire" and other works shown in American art houses during the past dozen years, joins two of France's greatest performers for the first time. Daniel Auteuil ("The Girl on the Bridge," "Lucie Aubrac") performs in the role of a captain in charge of the jail of St. Pierre, a godforsaken dot on the map off the coast of Nova Scotia and belonging to France in 1850, the scene of the action. His idiosyncratic wife, known simply as Madame La (an appellation used to avoid calling her Madame La Capitaine), is played by Juliette Binoche ("Alice et Martin," "The English Patient"). The deadliest character is not the murderer but the eponymous widow, French slang for the guillotine.
The story begins when a drunken, illiterate, essentially stupid and naive fisherman, Neel (the Bosnian director of "Black Cat, White Cat," Emir Kusturica), senselessly stabs a local resident to death during a drunken brawl "to find out whether he was big or whether he was fat." Condemned to death by a court led by a judge appointed by Paris, Neel is taken under the wing of the captain and particularly of the wife whom the official loves very much. While the residents of the island wait for months for France to ship a guillotine over to St. Pierre by way of Martinique, Madame La refuses to allow the condemned to rot in jail but instead uses him to cultivate her greenhouse, later lending him out to neighbors for odd jobs. After one heroic deed, Neel becomes the most popular guy in St. Pierre, so much so that only the French- appointed governor (Michel Duchaussoy) and a couple of his cronies want to carry out the sentence required by law.
While examining the theme of redemption and the effects of kind treatment of unfortunate fellows as splendidly as did only one other movie this year--"Quills", which illustrated the marvelous effects of an Abbe's kindness on the prisoners at a French asylum for the insane--Leconte uses gestures as much as words to survey the nature of a government in crisis, the boredom of life on a barren stretch of land, the ways that the powers that be can corrupt a person with money, and the courses of action that people can take when in love or, conversely, deprived of devotion. Leconte's photographer, Eduardo Serra, depicts the tough lives led by the people of St. Pierre by contrasting the dull, foggy air of the town with the power of the ocean as it rages against the jagged rocks.
Unlike so many French movies, the dialogue from Claude Faraldo's script is relatively sparse, giving all the more power to the expressions on the faces of the craggy men and their bored wives, for whom this murderer provides the excitement they crave. Auteuil shows us a character whose love for his horse is more powerful than his fear of the French government, Binoche how passion for a husband can pilot her toward good deeds for others, and Kusturica how a a simple man, loyal to a fault toward his benefactors, can be a prince among men. "The Widow of St. Pierre" is as razor- sharp as its eponymous widow is dull and rusty, an examination of some of life's major themes explored through the lens of some master story tellers.
Not Rated. Running time: 112 minutes. (C) 2000 by Harvey Karten, film_critic@compuserve.com
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