Pauline and Paulette (Belgium, 2001) *** 1/2

Directed by Lieven Debrauwer. Written by Mr. Debrauwer & Jacques Boon. Editing, Philippe Ravoet. Photography, Michel Van Laer (and Chris Renson). Art direction. Hilde Duyck. Cast: Dora van der Groen, Ann Petersen, Rosemarie Bergmans, Idwig Stephane, et al. A Sony Pictures Classics release. In Flemish and a bit of French, with subtitles. 78 minutes. PG. At the Art Theatre starting May 31.

The chances of Hollywood or of an American Independent making a picture of this kind are like the likelihood of 1) Hell freezing over, 2) not a single politician accepting payola, 3) the rest of 2002 witnessing no murders in any country of your choice.

"P & P" may be a PG movie, but one that only Ps (parents or mature or older people) are likely to see. It is a given that the masses and especially the young/youngish crowd will go to it. I won't go into the all-too-familiar statements about the dumbing of the public, the trendy flicks, the cinema of the spectacular, the thirst for "entertainment," the fate of subtitled movies, and all thatŠ But I will state that for true-blue cinephiles, especially those over a certain age, "P & P" is a very satisfying work.

It is set mostly in a small, Flemish-speaking town not far from Brussels. Some sequences are in Brussels proper and a few in a retirees' apartment building by the sea. The main characters are four sisters, all older. Pauline (Dora van der Groen), about 66, has been mentally deficient forever. After the women's parent died, Pauline was taken in by the eldest sister Martha (Julienne De Bruyn) in a house with a garden. The garden was one of Pauline's few preoccupations: flowers; running some simple errands; messily pasting in a scrapbook designs such as gift-wrapping paper. Her biggest pleasure was visiting sister Paulette (Ann Petersen) whom she adored.

Paulette is the owner and the total personnel of a fabrics store. There, Pauline's presence often causes the kind of minor annoyances that can stem from a simple-minded person.

Paulette, a hefty lady, has a passion for operettas. These are staged by a group of local amateurs. For thirty years Paulette has been their prima donna. Now she wants to close her shop and retire by the seashore

Cecile (Rosemarie Bergmans), the youngest of the sisters, lives in Brussels with her mature, rather recent boyfriend Albert (Idwig Stephane) who is a French-speaking Belgian.

Unexpectedly Martha dies. What to do with Pauline? The logical place for her would be a nursing home for the mentally ill. But Martha's will stipulates that her inheritance will go to the sisters only if one or both of them take care of Paulette. That duty falls on Paulette's shoulders. It creates a series of problems for her, not very big ones but annoying, disrupting and taxing Paulette's patience. Yet Pauline is always treated well.

There comes a point when Pauline goes to junior sister Cecile's (and Albert's) tiny apartment. This does not work out. With acumen and sensitivity we witness accumulations of realistic details of small events that make a mess in the lives of both Cecile and Paulette. The only possible solution is the last resort: placing the handicapped woman in a good nursing home. There is more to the non-plot. It is all in the details. And it reaches a lovely, touching finale which is far from a Hollywood ending. It is enough to say that irritations and all, there's much affection in the way Paulette feels and acts. The performances are superb. Not overtly dramatic, they hint rather than hit you on the head (or heart). Pauline's role is amazingly true. It is hard to believe that this is a performance and not a documentary. Paulette's reactions are terrifically subtle. It is not surprising that the movie won the audience prize at the 2001 Cannes Festival, plus the Ecumenical Jury's Special Prize. That it was a hit in Belgium where it won Belgian "Oscars" for best film, director, screenplay, actress, and another Audience Award.

"P & P" is not "entertainment", but nor is it dramatic in the usual sense. It's not tragic, not shocking. Instead, it is veristic (or, if you prefer, realistic), quiet, with sparse dialogue, no fireworks or artifices. Beautifully played -- in fact, underplayed --when compared to the immense majority of films, it is a delicate, quietly moving examination of the mentally defective and the "normal" persons around them.

From its description you might conclude that the movie is a downer. It is emphatically not. In fact it even has even a small, unforced share of laughter. It also weaves solidly into its fabric the problems of aging and of solitude among "sane" and "ordinary" people, problems that so many are experiencing or will experience. A gem.