"A grand, dark, grave,

severe piece of
first-rate cinema."

Jay Carr – Boston Globe

Starring:
Juliette Binoche

Daniel Auteuil

Emir Kusturica

Michel Duchaussoy

Philippe Magnan

In 1850, on the isolated French island of Saint-Pierre, a murder shocks the natives. Two fishermen are arrested. One of them, Louis Ollivier, dies in custody, the other, Neel Auguste, is sentenced to death by the guillotine. However the island has neither a guillotine nor an executioner. While one is sent for, Auguste is placed under the supervision of the local army Captain and his wife.