The Widow of Saint-Pierre

Director: Patrice Leconte
Year Released: 2000
Rating: 1.0

I'm not real sure why Leconte bothered making something like this - it's a dumb message movie (at its core) involving a woman with a rich heritage (Juliette Binoche) and her soldier husband (Daniel Auteuil) offering to help take care of a condemned murderer (the great filmmaker Emir Kusturica) and "reform" him (not to mention show the cruelty of capital punishment and patriarchy's bloodlust). The "murder scene" itself, with Kusturica and a companion, is completely unbelievable (the film claims they committed the act because they were "drunk"), and Binoche's considerable acting talent is negated by a one-dimensional role. The double meaning of "widow" (representing both the guillotine and Binoche) is made entirely too obvious.