The Widow of St. Pierre DVD Review Page Two

The members of the Governing Council and their wives deeply resent that the Captain and Madame La do not bother to try to fit in with their little social set, and they feel extremely threatened that the Captain permits his wife to spend so much time alone with the condemned man. They puzzle over what would make a beautiful woman abandon an important family in France to be the wife of a mere soldier, but the Governor's father explains to them, "Her heart is driven by passions." The wives are resentful at how attentive the Captain is to Madame La, and one of them cattily remarks, "We're not lucky enough to have a condemned we can use as a rival to reinvigorate our dear husbands." As the months pass without the arrival of the guillotine, the conflict grows between the island's ruling class on one side and the Captain, Madame La, and the island's working class on the other.

Meanwhile, a strange, tenuous triangular relationship involving Madame La, the Captain, and the condemned develops. It's clear that Madame La dearly loves her husband, but what is the exact nature of her feelings toward Neel? When she realizes that the condemned has just made love with the widow Jeanne-Marie, is that jealousy we see on Madame La's face? And later when Neel marries Jeanne-Marie, why does Madame La burst into tears and run away before the end of the ceremony? And most significantly, is Madame La willing to risk her husband's life to prevent Neel's execution, and if so, is the Captain willing to assume this risk?

One of the things I like best about The Widow of St. Pierre is the way it transports me to another time and place, and Patrice Leconte achieves this primarily in visual terms. The mostly straightforward cinematography is stunning, and odd camera angles and a hand-held camera are sparingly employed to good effect. The sea and the sky are used to give much of the film a blue cast, and set against this backdrop are the red dresses worn by Juliette Binoche. A sense of tragedy is sustained throughout almost the entire film.

The three principal actors -- Juliette Binoche, Daniel Auteuil, and Emir Kusturica -- are superb in this movie, and we see many close-ups of their interesting faces. Binoche is so lovely and charming that it's credible that two very masculine men would gladly do whatever was best for her, even to the point of sacrificing themselves if necessary. Auteuil is romantically dashing as the Captain, and he convinces me that he is willing to risk everything to feed Madame La's passions. Kusturica, best known previously as a director of Yugoslavian films, emerges as a powerful screen presence, playing here a strong, nonverbal man of the type that certain women seem to like to take on as a project.

On the surface, The Widow of St. Pierre tells a deceptively simple tale, but I think it's actually a reasonably complex movie. Of course, the film provokes some thought about capital punishment and addresses some issues of a ruling class versus the people ruled, but the movie is compelling mainly due to the interaction of the three main characters and the psychological conflicts that this gives rise to within each of them. I believe discriminating viewers will find The Widow of St. Pierre to be quite absorbing in spite of its deliberate pace, and I highly recommend it.

Selected Special Features on DVD:

• Trailer
• Widescreen Anamorphic Format
• English Subtitles Available

Formats Available: The above information refers to the DVD; this film is also available on VHS.

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