The Widow of Saint-Pierre

LaVeuve de Saint-Pierre

That night was for a party initially. Totof got an invitation and we decided to check it out. The party location was in an international school in Palo Alto. Interesting location. Not many buildings around the school. A bit deserted. When we saw the reception table, we suddenly had a thought that this party might be quite different from what we expected. We were right. The party was not something with high tech and fancy lighting. The party was more like a community party. It had welcome and warm atmosphere. Nice music. Good authentic French appetizers. Various cheese. Various pâtés and terrines. Of course, French were all over the place.

We circled around. We met Fabian and Lucile there. They arrived earlier than us. Apparently this party was well organized. Around 8pm, there was a welcome speech. The speech was followed by professional ballroom dancing. The dance was nice. Then Navaline arrived. We could see her disappointment immediately. She dressed up (not for a community party). We chatted and enjoyed some dancing. Then, we decided to leave and go clubbing.

At the time we left, the night was still young. So, we decided to stop by Navaline's place first to kill some time. She has some DVD's. We came across The Widow of Saint-Pierre and thought it might be worth to watch it. We did.

The movie was in French with English subtitle. I would be toast otherwise. I could just recognize two people on the movie cast: Juliette Binoche and Daniel Auteuil. I knew Daniel Auteuil from Le Valet, another movie. You will see a post about Le valet.

The movie was narrated by Juliette Binoche. The story began with a murder in Saint Pierre. One murderer was hit and died immediately when a riot occurred. The other murderer was survived and put to the building next to Juliette and Daniel's place. In the movie, Daniel was the captain of Saint Pierre and Juliette was the wife of the captain. Emir Kusturica was the survived murderer.

The wife apparently believed that this murderer was not a bad person. She was totally a humanist. So that she asked Captain to have Emir to help her with gardening. Since the Captain loved her wife so much, he made a deal with Emir. Emir could go out of his cell with the condition that he needed to comply with Juliette's every order. You saw Juliette rehabilitate Emir. Taught him to read, taught him to plant, taught him to help people... Some dialogues and interactions between Juliette and Emir were well performed. These absolutely enriched the movie. Juliette tried to let Saint Pierre's residents understand Emir. Emir became a small town hero at some point. Of course, by law, Emir was still a murderer. As movie went, you saw some dark politics in Saint Pierre. The governor wanted to use a guillotine to kill Emir. But since Paris was busy with its own problems (history), Paris government could not handle Saint Pierre's guillotine issue fast. The people in Saint Pierre started liking Emir and wanted to protect him. No one wanted to be the executor. Many good scenes were there. Those scenes made the movie real. Of course the governor was pissed by people's reaction. So He plotted. He set the Captain up. The Captain and his wife were carried away to Martinique for mutiny. The Captain was executed.

You saw love in this movie as well. The love between the Captain and his wife was highlighted. How the Captain used his eyes to show the devotion in an official meeting for high level people and their wives. Also how the captain protected his wife when others questioned her deed. Daniel acted these parts well.

The interactions between Juliette and Daniel were also subtle but detail enough to send the audience right message.

AFTERTHOUGHT:

You will like this movie if you want to spend some time to appreciate a story and good acting. This movie will not entertain you. But, it makes you think.