Binoche, the captain's wife

This is an unconventional love story based on true events in the mid-1800s on the French-run island of Saint-Pierre, off the south coast of Newfoundland. Directed by Patrice Leconte, it concerns a strange triangle formed by a military officer, played by Daniel Auteuil, his beloved wife, played by me, and a convicted murderer, played by the Yugoslav director Emir Kusturica.

She is called Madame La, from Madame La Capitaine, the captain's wife, and she's an idealist who goes against the flow in every way. Nobody understands why this woman of a good family followed her soldier husband to this remote frozen outpost. Being posted to Saint-Pierre was obviously not a reward but she and he love each other overwhelmingly and would never part.

Their life on Saint-Pierre is disrupted when two visiting sailors murder a local resident on a drunken bet and are sentenced to death. One dies accidentally on the way to prison but the other survives. Madame La requests that he works with her doing gardening and repairs. The fact that someone is in prison, and is considered guilty, makes her feel guilty. She cannot bear to see this man locked up. By working for his redemption he becomes a valued member of the community. But, as a by-product, she frees herself and causes the doom of the men who love her and whom she loves.

Standing there freezing, laced into a corset while waiting for the sun to come out or the wind to change, sometimes it felt like I could have been waiting for the "veuve" or "widow", which in the 19th century was what they called the guillotine that, subject to regulations, had to be brought over by boat from Paris to Saint-Pierre.