The Horseman on the Roof

Cholera is sweeping Provence in 1832. Angelo, an Italian exile fleeing Austrian agents, finds himself in a country of closed roads, quarantines and strangers lynched on suspicion of poisoning wells. In one town he climbs onto the roofs and lives up there for days, then meets Pauline, who has set out to find her husband, and the journey continues as a pair. Jean-Paul Rappeneau adapted Jean Giono's novel. The most surprising thing about it is the romance it declines to consummate: the distance between Angelo and Pauline is held to the end, and that is where the tension comes from. Juliette Binoche and Olivier Martinez star. It was among the most expensive French productions of its day and the money is on screen. Who it is for: viewers who like costume adventure and epidemic stories. Who it is not for: anyone expecting a romantic resolution.