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PAULINE & PAULETTE Send This Review to a Friend
Films about characters with mentally or other challenged problems generally focus primarily on the person with the difficulties. The charm and delicacy of "Pauline & Paulette," a lovely film from Belgium, is that it also concentrates sympathetically on the complexities for relatives trying to deal with such individuals in the face of the disruption caused in their own lives.
Of four elderly sisters one, Pauline (played with remarkable truthfulness by Dora van der Groen), is retarded and, although she understands what is being said to her, has difficulty navigating even life's simple chores, although she is kindly and is easily pleased. The saving grace is that she is living with and being cared for by her loving sister Martha (Julienne De Bruyn). But the sudden death of Martha results in Pauline going too live with Paulette (Anne Petersen), who owns a fabric store and who sends Pauline on errands that she is barely able to handle. But Paulette simply can't manage the responsibility of keeping her sister, who causes immense problems. For example, Paulette sings with a local opera group, and when she succumbs to taking Pauline to a performance, the result becomes embarrassing and ludicrous.
The fourth sister, Cecile (Rosemarie Bergmans), lives with her boyfriend (Idwig Stephane) in nearby Brussels. Paulette would like her to take responsibility, but when she tries, her life is turned into a shambles and Pauline resents being shunted aside in this way. How the complications are finally worked out in the screenplay co-written with Jacques Boon by director Lieven Debrauwer is tender and sensible, with Pauline finding a measure of happiness amid new surroundings, yet keeping her ties to Paulette, who has love and compassion for her needy sister. All of the performances are top notch and there is even a helping of humor to go with the seriousness of the situation in his fine little film. A Sony Pictures Classics release.
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