PAULINE AND PAULETTE

Mentally-retarded Pauline is described as a six-year-old girl in a 66-year-old woman's body. She is unable to read, tie her own shoelaces and put jam on her bread. For decades Pauline has lived under the care of her solemn sister Martha in a cottage in a Flemish town, where she waters her beloved garden and collects pictures of flowers. After Martha dies her last will and testament reveals that she has divided her estate between Pauline and her two other sisters, Cecile and Paulette, but with the provision that the latter two will only receive their rightful share of inheritance if one or the other agrees to take on the heavy burden of looking after Pauline, who barely comprehends the situation. While both sisters love Pauline, and make faltering efforts to become her caregiver, it's Paulette to whom Pauline clings; she idolizes the other woman because of her homey fabrics shop, her sideline as an amateur opera singer ? and for the flower blossoms that decorate Paulette's surroundings. But is that enough? Warm and sentimental, yet realistic and unsimplified, this tender drama of family ties and the responsibility of being one's sister's keeper won accolades from audiences at Cannes in 2001. (In French with English subtitles)