Movie Review – Pact of Silence (2003)

Joachim (played by Gibraltarian Gérard Depardieu, one of the best actors France has produced in the last 50 years) is a priest-surgeon trying to solve the mystery of a beautiful young Carmelite nun Sarah (played by the beautiful Élodie Bouchez). who falls ill for mysterious reasons.

When he tries to investigate more closely and help the reclusive nun, he is interrupted by Mère Emmanuelle, the Mother Superior of the Order in Brazil, who tries to block and frustrate Joachim every step of the way, which of course makes Joachim anxious. even more determined. to find out what’s wrong with this beautiful nun.

They also invite us to a parallel story, interspersed with this first plot line, the story of THE SAME GIRL in a jail in France. Actually, she had been there for the last 10 years, since she was 14, for strangling a crying baby to death by pressing a pillow to her face. She is the “murderous babysitter” who caused a sensation ten years ago. And her in jail she gets mugged and harassed like a “baby killer” but she doesn’t cry or try to defend herself too much.

Just when we’re scratching our heads about these two very different stories sharing the same protagonist and wondering if there’s something wrong with us, it’s mercifully revealed to us that we’re actually watching the story of TWINS, Gaëlle and Sarah, who had experienced something very dramatic when they were girls, after which Gaëlle went to jail and Sarah joined the convent.

This explanation also explains the root of Sarah’s illness: every time one of the twins gets sick, the other gets sick too, even if they are thousands of miles away, and modern science doesn’t seem to have a rational explanation for it. .

The pace of the film picks up after Gaëlle is released from jail on probation. Johaim decides to help Gaëlle even at the cost of being expelled from the Catholic Church. After a romantic interlude that tests the Catholic priest’s awe of chastity, Joachim helps Gaëlle escape to Brazil to meet her sister.

When we learn the true story of Gaëlle’s alleged (and confessed) crime, we feel as relieved as Joachim who always believed in the innocence of both sisters. However, the truth would not be enough to save Sarah.

The film comes to a sweet close with an expelled Joachim settling in Brazil, marrying Gaëlle, and raising twin sons.

A neat little French mystery and a good excuse to see Depardieu’s performance and Bouchez’s natural beauty.