THE WIDOW OF SAINT-PIERRE (La Veuve de Saint-Pierre) is a French movie directed by Patrice Leconte in 2000.
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The setting is the French island of Saint-Pierre et Miquelon in the Atlantic ocean in 1850. The fisherman Neel Auguste gets drunk and kills a man. He's sentenced to death but there isn't any guillotine on the island. The authorities inform Paris of the situation but months will pass before a guillotine arrives from the Martinique.
Meanwhile, Neel Auguste is entrusted to Jean, the Captain of the military regiment of the island. Jean is so in love with his wife Pauline that he lets her hire Neel Auguste as an assistant. Pauline has understood that Neel Auguste is a good man at heart and, soon, the inhabitants of the island can't do without him. During this period, Neel will get married and will also save the life of a woman.
The authorities observe with discontentment this strange situation and ask the Captain Jean to treat Neel as a criminal. But Jean prefers to please his wife and doesn't obey to their orders. One day, the boat with the guillotine arrives and Jean knows that it will soon be over for Neel. He and his wife will give Neel the opportunity to escape but the prisoner doesn't do so. A few days later, another boat arrives in Saint-Pierre with a new Captain and the mission to bring back Jean to France where he will be court-martialed.
The review of this Movie prepared by Daniel Staebler
