The story is about a group of people waiting for a guillotine to arrive, but when understood in historical context it is about life after the guillotine. That is to say, by a series of layered conflicts the director Patrice Leconte shows us how the modern French attitude toward freedom developed, beginning about 1849. Originally, it was a mere idea which the administrators of "the Reign of Terror" thought could be imposed by chopping off the heads of aristocrats, and which the post-Napoleonic monarchists thought could be elimnated from popular memory by chopping off the heads of oridinary people. But the reality of freedom, shown by Leconte to be as much a part of the romantic relationship of the Captain (the luminous Daniel Auteuil) and "Mrs. Captain" (Juliette Binoche) as their erotic attraction to each other, is something beyond the power of the guillotine to prevent or create. Juxtaposed against the moral ambiguity of the situations in the story are the film's primary colors. The colors are lovely. All but two scenes are softened by a dominating hue of either golden, inside light, or the red of Mrs. Captain's dresses, the doors of her husband's prisons, the under-vests of the officials or the glowing skin of the local ladies and children, or the blue of the frozen ocean and its fish, sometimes assisted by the soldier's uniforms. Therefore, the unambiguous forces in the story are shown in gray. There are two dark gray/light gray scenes; one with Mrs. Captain standing by a window, the other being a view from the ocean of the town as the ship approaches with its deadly cargo, the guillotine. Michel Duchaussoy's performance as the essential Bourbon colonial is stunning. Emir Kusturica, the notorious Yugoslavian rebel, distinguishes both himself and his role by the obedience which characterizes his portrayal of Neel. Condemned for the senseless slaughter of a man who gave him a job, Neel must himself be slaughtered before we can understand the origins of France's modern devotion to freedom. The role of Mrs. Captain -- "Captaine La" -- foreshadows that of "Mary Gray" in Albert White Eagle's play-turned-movie, "Chairs." The sets are perfect; one doesn't notice them until the film is over.
Mary Cadney, Oklahoma City
Mary Cadney, Oklahoma City