The Widow of Saint-Pierre (2000)

Very best movie i ever watch

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

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!

This is a wonderful film. It captures characters in a profound dilemma and shows a study of the bureaucratic mind that will crush a truly good man for the ends of both personal advancement and political correctness. It is as much a statement on the evils of mindless bureaucracy as any I have seen. It is also a fine story of personal redemption and the decency that can allow it to thrive. I could not but think of such works as Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment or such films as Schindler's List, because I am fascinated by the portrayals of seemingly ordinary people put in situations of fundamental moral choice.

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.

Focusing on murderer Neel Auguste's (Emir Kusturica) redemption while awaiting his execution, "La Veuve de Saint-Pierre" (called "The Widow of Saint-Pierre" in English) raises some good questions. The townspeople are forced to ask themselves whether or not it's a good idea to execute him now that he is making up for it. The movie never gets preachy, it sticks to asking the questions and shows that there's not necessarily a ready answer. Juliette Binoche and Daniel Auteuil play Pauline (aka Madame La) and Jean (aka The Captain), respectively, overseeing Auguste's penance. All in all, this is a movie that everyone should see.