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—<br />
TORONTO REVIEWS<br />
L'ANGLAISE ET LE DUC<br />
(THE LADY AND THE DUKE)<br />
••••<br />
Starring Lucy Russell and Jean-Claude<br />
Dreyfus. Directed and written by Eric<br />
Rolmier. Produced by Francoise Etchegaray.<br />
A Sony Pictures Classics release. Drama.<br />
French-language, subtitled. Not yet rated.<br />
Running time: 129 min.<br />
Master filmmaker Eric Rohmer<br />
("Autumn Tale") returns with a change-ofpace<br />
film, miles removed from his usual<br />
sunny take on the human condition. Based<br />
on the memoirs of Grace Elliott, a Scottish<br />
woman who moved to France in 1 786, not<br />
long before the Revolution. "L'Anglaise et<br />
le Due" begins one year after that violent<br />
event with a civilized conversation between<br />
Grace (Lucy Russell) and her friend and<br />
former lover, the Duke of Orleans (Jean-<br />
Claude Dreyfus). Grace is loyal to the king<br />
of her adopted country but the Duke is on<br />
the side of the people, whom he feels are ill<br />
done by their undemocratic monarch.<br />
Those differing views don't seem insurmountable<br />
but in the next scene, there is an<br />
attack on the Palace and Grace is forced to<br />
flee Paris to her country home. Those long<br />
sequences as Grace tries to escape the city<br />
convey the fear and terror that the<br />
Revolution wrought in a unique manner<br />
and more effectively than any other film on<br />
the subject. But Rohmer goes a step further,<br />
showing the inexorable fallout from the<br />
fighting that followed, from the brutal murders<br />
of aristocrats and Royals to the threat<br />
to Grace, who is suspect because of her<br />
friendships with many enemies of the state.<br />
Rohmer's likening of the viciousness of<br />
the French Revolution to the excesses of<br />
Stalinist Russia makes for heightened drama,<br />
which is perfectly interpreted by his skilled<br />
cast. Russell is especially fine as the stranger<br />
in a strange land. Shlomo Schwartzberg<br />
PAULINE ET PAULETTE<br />
***l/2<br />
Staning Dora \ an Der Q-oen, Ann Peterson,<br />
Rosemarie Bergmans and Idwig Stephane.<br />
Directed by Lieven Dehrauwer. Written by<br />
Lieven Dehrauwer and Jacques Boon. Produced<br />
by Dominique Jaime. A Sony Pictures<br />
Classics release. ComedylDrama. Rated PG<br />
for brief language. Running time: 78 min.<br />
"Pauline et Paulette" is a charming<br />
and poignant tale of the irrevocable ties<br />
that bind. It tells the story of four elderly<br />
sisters and the family crisis that arises<br />
around the care of the childlike Pauline.<br />
Writer/director Lieven Debrauwer thankfully<br />
prevents the film from descending<br />
into mere domestic melodrama, skillfully<br />
lacing his narrative with glimpses into<br />
Pauline's unique worldview.<br />
The crisis begins when Martha, who<br />
has been taking care of Pauline, passes<br />
away. Her will states that one of the othei<br />
two sisters must take care of Pauline, on<br />
both lose any claims to her estate. Paulette.<br />
an amateur opera singer and shop owner,<br />
and Cecile, who has just embarked on a<br />
new love affair, reluctantly work out a system<br />
to share the burden of dealing with<br />
their sister.<br />
Pauline has basic needs and is unnervingly<br />
straightforward when she wants themj<br />
met. Often in the film, this leads to comic<br />
misunderstandings and misadventures,<br />
and results in no end of trouble when she<br />
lives with Paulette. the person she wants to<br />
be with most. Even when Martha was<br />
alive, Pauline would constantly wander:<br />
over to Paulette's shop, despite Martha's<br />
stern warnings and Paulette's almost cruel<br />
dismissals.<br />
Initially treated as a burden, Pauline<br />
eventually prevails through her endearing<br />
innocence and amiability. It is Pauline's<br />
character that creates the film's<br />
—<br />
irrepressible<br />
appeal. Her pleasures are refreshingly<br />
simple— she loves to care for flowers and<br />
collect their pictures. It is in these scenes<br />
that we are privy to Pauline's wondrous<br />
vision of life—an important reminder of<br />
the joys in the most basic of elements, and<br />
one that raises the film above a quotidian<br />
account of bickering families. Barbara<br />
Goslawski<br />
The Pursuit of Simple Excellence<br />
Results In Timeless Quality<br />
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