DEALING WITH THE INCONVENIENCE OF DEATH.Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Critic ``PAULINE & PAULETTE'' is a sweetly affecting story about four sisters who are coping, in one way or another, with life's endgame Endgame blind and chair-bound, Hamm learns that nearly everybody has died; his own parents are dying in separate trash cans. [Anglo-Fr. Drama: Beckett Endgame in Weiss, 143] See : Death . One of the sisters is retarded, but that's OK because this is a foreign import and, thus, not saddled with the Hollywood mandate that the mentally impaired teach us something Important. Certainly, there are lessons learned in ``Pauline & Paulette,'' but the realizations come from the hard-earned knowledge that sometimes in life, acceptance is the only option. The movie's retarded sister, Pauline (Dora van der Groen), lives with Martha (Julienne ju·li·enne n. Consommé or broth garnished with long thin strips of vegetables. adj. also ju·li·enned Cut into long thin strips: julienne potatoes; julienned pork. De Bruyn), the eldest member of the family, in a small town between Brussels and the coast. Pauline has some appreciation for Martha's caretaking efforts, but it's really Paulette (Ann Petersen Ann Petersen (22 June1927, Wuustwezel, Belgium - 11 December2003, Opwijk, Belgium) was a Belgian actress. She was one of the best known actresses in Belgium. She was especially noted for her roles in Pauline & Paulette, the children's serial Samson & Gert ) that she loves. The feeling isn't exactly mutual though. Pauline is embarrassed by her sister and usually runs her out of her frilly frill n. 1. A ruffled, gathered, or pleated border or projection, such as a fabric edge used to trim clothing or a curled paper strip for decorating the end of the bone of a piece of meat. 2. dress shop whenever she comes into town for a visit. One day, Pauline shows up at Paulette's dress shop with news: Martha has ``broken a cup and is asleep on the floor.'' This sudden turn of events prompts the arrival of the family's other sister, Cecile (Rosemarie Bergmans), who lives in Brussels with her pretentious French intellectual boyfriend (Idwig Stephane). As stipulated by Martha's will, either Paulette or Cecile will have to care for Pauline - otherwise the proceeds from the considerable estate go entirely to Pauline. ``Pauline & Paulette'' is the first feature by Belgian short-film director Lieven Debrauwer, and it's full of wonderfully observed small, delicate moments that speak volumes about the respective characters of the sisters. Neither Cecile nor Paulette want to be ``saddled'' with Paulette for fear that it will disturb their comfortable routines. But as Debrauwer shows us, those routines are every bit as limiting as Pauline's dementia, constricting con·strict v. con·strict·ed, con·strict·ing, con·stricts v.tr. 1. To make smaller or narrower by binding or squeezing. 2. To squeeze or compress. 3. the sisters' lives. In Paulette's case, that involves a selmposed loneliness; for Cecile, it's intellectual servitude servitude In property law, a right by which property owned by one person is subject to a specified use or enjoyment by another. Servitudes allow people to create stable long-term arrangements for a wide variety of purposes, including shared land uses; maintaining the to a stuffed shirt. In that respect, puckish puck·ish adj. Mischievous; impish: a puckish grin; puckish wit. puck  ish·ly adv. Pauline might be the happiest of the three
surviving sisters, if only because she knows what makes her happy -
Paulette - and is unable to fully comprehend the slights directed her
way.
The movie derives a fair share of bittersweet bittersweet, name for two unrelated plants, belonging to different families, both fall-fruiting woody vines sometimes cultivated for their decorative scarlet berries. humor from this situation, building to a beautiful conclusion that gently reaffirms family as one of this life's greatest treasures. PAULINE & PAULETTE - Three stars (Rated PG: brief language) Starring: Dora van der Groen, Ann Petersen, Rosemarie Bergmans, Idwig Stephane, Julienne De Bruyn. Director: Lieven Debrauwer. Running time: 1 hr. 18 min. Playing: Laemmle's Town Center 5 in Encino; Landmark's Westside Pavilion in West Los Angeles
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