| The Widow of Saint-Pierre | |
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Theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | Patrice Leconte |
| Produced by | Frédéric Brillion Gilles Legrand Daniel Louis, Denise Robert |
| Written by | Claude FarraldoPatrice Leconte |
| Starring | Juliette Binoche Daniel Auteuil Emir Kusturica |
| Music by | Pascal Esteve |
| Cinematography | Eduardo Serra |
| Editing by | Joëlle Hache |
| Distributed by | Pathé (France) Film Four (UK) Lionsgate (US) |
| Release date(s) | April 19, 2000 |
| Running time | 120 minutes |
| Country | Canada France |
| Language | French |
| Budget | $13 million[1] |
| Box office | $7,074,234[2] |
The Widow of Saint-Pierre (French: La veuve de Saint-Pierre) is a 2000 film by Patrice Leconte with Juliette Binoche, Daniel Auteuil and Emir Kusturica. The film made its North American debut at the 2000 Toronto Film Festival where it won the Audience Award. It was nominated for a Golden Globe Award in 2001 for Best Foreign Language Film. The film was also nominated in 2001 for two César Awards.
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In 1850, on the isolated French island of Saint-Pierre, a murder shocks the natives. Two fishermen are arrested. One of them, Louis Ollivier, dies in custody. The other, Neel Auguste (Emir Kusturica), is sentenced to death by the guillotine. However the island is so small that it has neither a guillotine nor an executioner. While one is sent for, Auguste is placed under the supervision of army Captain (Daniel Auteuil).
While Auguste is under the captain's care, the wife of the captain, Madame La, (played by Juliette Binoche) takes an interest in the convict and begins to try to redeem him. Under her auspices, Auguste works hard and carries out a number of good deeds for the good of the community. The locals begin to see that he has changed, and Madame La begins a campaign to stop him from being executed. After a year of awaiting execution, Auguste has become a changed man.
When the guillotine finally arrives on the island, none of the islanders wants to be the one to trip the lever on the guillotine, thereby executing Auguste. However, Auguste remains a condemned man and someone must be found to pull the lever on the guillotine.
The French title La Veuve de Saint-Pierre contains wordplay. "Veuve" translates to "Widow". In the 1800s the word was also slang for a guillotine.[3]
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