Juliette Binoche in La Veuve de Saint-Pierre (2000)

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I'm not sure, but this very good film may qualify as the saddest, most depressing film in history.

Here's the idea. In the 19th century, a drunken man commits a murder on an obscure island off the coast of Newfoundland. The island is under French law, so he is tried and is sentenced to death by the guillotine. This presents a problem for a tiny community lost in the North Atlantic. They don't have a guillotine, and they don't have an executioner, so they have to start hunting around for one of each. This is not as easy as it sounds. The only available guillotine in the Americas appears to be in Martinique, so it will probably take months to get news to Martinique, then ship the guillotine back to the North Atlantic.

During the hiatus, the wife of the captain of the local guard takes an interest in the prisoner, and they establish a unique relationship in which he becomes her protégé. She uses him to do some work for her, but also teaches him, and gets to know him as a man. As time progresses, the captain comes to trust the man and his wife's judgment, so more and more liberties are allowed, and the prisoner is actually allowed to perform duties in the community.

The man undergoes a transformation. At first, the wife says "you know, if you tried to escape, my husband would be executed in your place", but she comes to have so much compassion for him that by the end of the film, she is actually urging him to escape, with her husband's permission.

He thinks about it, actually starts, but turns himself back in, unable to cause problems for the two people who have shown him so much tenderness. Meanwhile, the condemned man makes himself useful in the community, and does many good deeds, until he is beloved by nearly all.

The guillotine finally arrives from Martinique, but now there are two additional problems.

First, nobody in the community will agree to be the executioner, and superstitious sea captains will not allow executioners on their ships.

Second, the captain has come to the conclusion that the man who was sentenced to death is not the same man he has to execute, so he refuses to order or allow his men to participate in the execution.

How will it get resolved? I'm not going to tell you, but remember that I said this was about the most depressing film I've ever seen. And I've seen most of Bergman's films. On the sadness meter, this makes Cries and Whispers seem about as depressing as Boeing, Boeing. With any possible character, assume about the worst thing that could happen to them, and you'll get the drift.

By the way, if I had to name the three best-photographed movies I have seen in the past two years, they would be Crouching Tiger, The Patriot, and this film. Yes, it is that good. Major league good. You may recall that Patrice Leconte's previous film, The Girl on the Bridge, was also dazzling.

Many filmmakers seem to have lost it by the time they reach their 50's, but Leconte is probably doing the best films of his life, and some of the best films coming out of any country, although this one was not designed for mainstream tastes.

The captain's wife spends half of the movie looking on the verge of tears, and the other half actually in tears. Gee, I wonder which French actress got cast in this role. I'm not sure if Guinness has a record for "most screen time of close-ups on the verge of tears or actually in tears", but Juliette Binoche must own this record by about thirty times more than the nearest competitor.

Nudity Report: Juliette Binoche and Daniel Auteuil have a sex scene. The beginning is far from the camera, but his buns and her right breast are briefly visible. The scene ends in close-up, but with their chests pressed tightly together.

IMDb Summary: 7.3 out of 10

Critic's Vote: Ebert 4/4, Berardinelli 3/4

Box Office: made for about $15 million dollars, it grossed about $3 million in the USA, a bit more than that in France.

DVD Info: Widescreen anamorphic, 1.78:1; four interviews with cast members; Making-of featurette; choice of English dubbing or subtitles


Written by Scoopy ...courtesy of scoopy.net