BEWARE OF SPOILERS!<br /><br />In this French language film (with English subtitles), Juliette Binoche plays what some today might call a "bleeding heart liberal," maybe even a head-strong bleeding heart liberal. Her name is Pauline and her husband Jean (Daniel Auteuil) is the Captain of a troop of soldiers on the island of St. Pierre off the coast of Newfoundland. The year is 1849. <br /><br />One night two of the local peasants get drunk and have an argument about whether a certain man of the island is fat or just big. As a joke they go to his cottage and rouse him from his dinner table with calls of "fat!" and "big" until comes out to investigate with a knife in his hands for protection. In the ensuing confrontation one of the men holds the big guy from behind while the other (Ariel Neel Auguste, played by Emir Kusturica) knocks the knife from his hand, picks it up, and in a kind of madness cuts the man open to see--as they later testify at the trial--whether he is really fat or just big.<br /><br />As it happens, Neel is condemned to death, but can't be executed because the law requires that he be beheaded and there is no guillotine on the island, nor is there an executioner. Since he can hardly run away from this snowy island, Pauline wants him out of his cell and at work helping her around the house, maybe as a gardener. Jean, who loves Pauline extravagantly, agrees and Neel becomes Pauline's protégé. She wants to reform him and teach him to read, etc. The tension in the film builds as her good intentions run afoul of the island's governing authorities. Through it all Jean stands steadfast by his wife in a most heroic way.<br /><br />I won't say anymore about the plot. What interests me more is the motivation of Pauline in helping Neel. Is she motivated by generosity of heart or by her desire to be a person doing good? This is an ancient question. Do we do good because that is our nature or because we are fulfilling a desire to be good? Furthermore, is Pauline's heart filled with human love for Neel or does she in fact have a yen for him?<br /><br />Director Patrice Leconte gives us plenty of reason to be skeptical. When Pauline is sitting practically on Neel's lap while teaching him to read, the camera closes in on their fingers as they trace the lines in the text. The fingers get closer and closer together until they touch and even mingle a bit.<br /><br />Cut immediately to a scene through a bedroom door: two naked figures in vigorous sexual union. At first we can't see who they are, and it is hard not to imagine that it is Pauline and Neel in adulterous embrace. However, it is Pauline and her husband, Jean. <br /><br />In another scene the bored women of the island are seen talking about how close Pauline and Neel have gotten and how this must inspire Jean to be a better lover; but in fact we can see that what the presence of Neel is doing is lighting a fire under Pauline.<br /><br />Captain Jean is an entirely admirable character who loves his wife. Neel is also admirable in that he loves Pauline but doesn't make any moves on her. He becomes something of a hero when he saves the building of a café on wheels being moved from crashing. She is of course the most talked-about person on the island, the source of most of the gossip. As we watch the film unfold there is a sense of doom coming. We know something terrible is going to happen; we just don't know what or to whom.<br /><br />In the final analysis I guess we can say that Pauline--who, in the framing device, narrates the events from memory--got not what she deservedfor no one deserves what happened to her; nor can we attribute what happens to some kind of fatalism. Instead the tragedy can be seen as the direct result of her compromised behavior. Or perhaps we can make a more generous interpretation and say that no good deed ever goes unpunished.<br /><br />This film can also be seen as a tract against capital punishment since Neel is basically a good man who made a bad mistake. He is clearly a worthwhile member of the community. He is also repentant even to the point of believing that he must pay for his sin in accordance with the law. <br /><br />See this for director Patrice Laconte who has a nice touch with historical period pieces and directs with the kind of attention to detail and story that rank him among the very best auteurs of the French cinema. I also highly recommend his Ridicule (1996) and La fille sur la pont (1999).