"The Widow of St. Pierre (Veuve de Saint-Pierre)" is a very unconventional relationship triangle, with resonances of "Dead Man Walking." <br /><br />Juiliette Binoche is much more interesting and complex here than she is in "Chocolat" as a Lady Bountiful who is pushing redemption with more than a tinge of sensuality.<br /><br />Daniel Auteil who usually plays hapless contemporary men at first looks as out of place in a period costume drama as Harvey Keitel does, but he brings the intellectual and moral sensibility of the 20th century to a true story from an earlier one.<br /><br />Love and devotion--to a spouse and to duty-- are quietly played out against sophisticated political gamesmanship of a small town. <br /><br />The cinematography in Atlantic Canada is beautiful; the pregnant pause close-ups are as claustrophobic as living on the island outpost. It was partly filmed at one of my all-time favorite historic recreations at Louisbourg in Cape Breton, Newfoundland. <br /><br />(originally written 3/18/2001)