in 1849 and in the archipelago of saint pierre et miquelon and the drunken ariel neel auguste ( emir kusturica ) and his partner louis ollivier ( reynald bouchard ) kill for a futile motive ( to see if he be fat or just big ) the fishing boat captain coupard ( michel daigle ) . nell and who stab the victim and be sentence to die with his head sever in the guillotine while louis be sentence to hard labor . during the transportation to the prison under the custody of captain jean ( daniel auteuil ) and there be an accident and louis dy . while spend his day in the cell wait for the guillotine and the executioner and neel be invite by the captain wife mrs. pauline ( juliette binoche ) to help her in her garden and become her protégé . later he have a process of rehabilitation help the local in minor work and become very popular in the island . when he save the building café du nord and her owner from sink in the sea and his popularity increase and nobody but the governor and politician of the council want his death . neel marries eleontine jeanne marie and but sooner he be inform that the ship marie galante have just leave martinique bring a guillotine . now the governor and politician need to find an executioner in the population to execute the sentence . la veuve de saint pierre be a beautiful dramatization of a story of rehabilitation and intolerance . i do not know whether this event be partially true or not there be reference in internet to this story but in site that i can not trust but this movie be wonderful . the story and screenplay be engage and very well write with powerful line while the direction of patrice leconte and the performance be top notch and with juliette binoche extremely beautiful and elegant a usual and show a magnificent chemistry with daniel auteuil while the cinematography and costume be wonderful . base on my adjective and it be unnecessary to say that i love this movie . my vote be eight . title ( brazil ) represent a viúva de saint pierre ( the widow of saint pierre ) .