Cheap The Widow of Saint-Pierre (DVD) (Juliette Binoche, Daniel Auteuil) (Patrice Leconte) Price

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Customer Reviews of The Widow of Saint-Pierre

Tragic, multilayered, and sweepingly romantic.
"The Widow of Saint-Pierre" is one of those brooding, romantic costume dramas that only the French seem to do well these days. Far from being escapist fare, it is a dark, often profound meditation on the human condition and the vagaries of the human heart. In 1849, on the remote French island of Saint-Pierre off the coast of Newfoundland, an illiterate fisherman commits a drunken, senseless murder and is sentenced to the guillotine. But since the island has no guillotine, the governor must send for one--a process that will take years. Meanwhile, the fisherman is imprisoned in the island fortress; the wife of the garrison commander takes pity on the condemned man, and sets out to rehabilitate him, with the help (at first reluctant, later wholehearted) of her loving husband. Soon the captain and his wife are defying the governor in their attempts to help the condemned man--with tragic consequences. "The Widow of Saint-Pierre" works on several levels: as a romantic drama; as a denunciation of capital punishment and the cruelty of confusing the letter of the law with justice; and as a brilliant delineation of the nature of love, courage and self-sacrifice. Eduardo Serra's photography of the wintry landscape of Saint-Pierre (actually Nova Scotia) is marvelous, and the acting deserves the highest praise. By now, of course, everyone knows how exquisite Juliette Binoche is, and she is as good as ever here. But the thespian honors in this movie go to Daniel Auteuil, an actor of masterful subtlety and power, who makes Gerard Depardieu look like a double order of "jambon a' l'os."

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A romantic drama with a progressive social conscience
Juliet Binoche demonstrates a steely grace in this French film set in the 1840s Newfoundland. A man commits murder during a night of drunken hyjinks. He's sentenced to the guillotine except for one the remote town of St. Pierre doesn't have the necessary executive device (nicknamed the "Widow"). The town officials send away for one from France (that must be some mail-order catalog they consulted), but in the meantime the convicted man is held in custody by a captain (enigmatically played by Daniel Auteuil) and his wife (Binoche).

*** Binoche's character is progressively-minded, and instead of keeping the convict locked up, she puts him to work helping her with her garden and then with chores around St. Pierre. The townsfolk take a shine to the convict and begin to protest his pending execution.

*** This is an odd little period film with an anti-capital punishment stance. While not entirely surprising, the premise is remains a novelty to behold. You're never quite sure what made the characters who they are, but Binoche and Auteuil are a curiously striking couple and succeed in bringing plausibility to their roles.

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Quality film with poignant story and excellent acting.
Set in 1849 on the Island of Saint Pierre off the coast of Canada, this 2001 French film is a sad and human drama about love, sin and redemption. The film starts with a senseless murder and a death sentence for the culprit, played by Emir Kustuica. However, the execution must be carried out by guillotine, which is referred to as "the widow" and there is no such instrument of death in the town. It has to be sent by ship from a French Island in the Caribbean. And this could take as long as a year.

The prisoner is under the control of a Captain, played by Daniel Auteuil. He is deeply in love with his wife, played by Juliette Binoche. There are some tender scenes of their lovemaking as well as scenes in which it is clear that he adores her and respects her in all ways. And so, when she sets out to reform the convicted murderer, he supports her wish. The convicted man is allowed out of his prison cell and accompanies her all over the province. He helps out the townspeople and works with her to plant a garden and learns to read. He even impregnates a local woman and marries her. Everyone in the town grows to admire this man and nobody wants the execution to take place.

What will happen? I was drawn into the story and, along with the townspeople, I too hoped he would eventually get his freedom. But the story is not as simple as that. And, as the tension heightened and moved towards its conclusion, I found myself clearly upset as I saw the way it was going.

This is a good film. The story and acting and cinematography are all excellent. It moved a little too slowly for my taste, however. And I found it hard to believe that the condemned man would be given so much freedom to move around the town. But this doesn't detract from the quality of the film, the empathy I felt throughout for all the characters or the subtleties of characterization that made the story seem real and poignant.