Pauline & Paulette (2001 Belguim)

See it.

What a charmer. Pauline and Paulette may only run 78 minutes but it develops a thorough and deep character study of both title characters.

          Dora van de Groen plays Pauline, a mentally retarded 65 year old with an unconditional hero-worshipping love for her sister Paulette. She obsessed with flowers, copying her sister and wanting to be a part of a decoration shop owned by Paulette. When their sister, Pauline's caretaker, passes on, it is up to Paulette to take her into her home. Paulette, played marvellously by the late Ann Petersen, is a solid performance of the sister who cannot seem to fit looking after her sister into her high class life. 

          This is one of the most sincere portrayals of someone who is mentally challenged, I have ever seen in film. There are no Hollywood clichés, for instance slow motion hugging scene exaggerated for emotional effects. There are no cheap jokes, yet through it's honesty has some good laughs. This film stays as simple as it can be, but it is within that simplicity scenes, the finer touches are have great impact.

          There was one thing that I found a little off putting, the musical score choices. In certain scenes when we get a glimpse of how Pauline's thought processing works, a suspenseful piano piece gets played in the background. It is so awwkwardly misused, that I was starting to think that Pauline was going to hatch some diabolical scheme. "Ah Oh, That mentally challenged one is up to no good." Yet, this is so innocently told that the thought only occurred for a couple of seconds.     
           Other than that this is a great charmer this is just plain nice film to watch. Which is such a rare compliment to give a film nowadays.