The Advocate (film)
Encyclopedia
The Hour of the Pig is a 1993
British
/French
film by writer/director Leslie Megahey, produced by the BBC
. The film stars Colin Firth
, Ian Holm
, Donald Pleasence
, Nicol Williamson
, Jim Carter and Amina Annabi. It was released in the United States
as The Advocate. The film is usually categorised as a drama
, although it could also be classified as a mystery
or a black comedy
.
For its UK theatrical release, the film was given a 15 certificate, while the North American release was rated R, primarily due to its nudity and sexual content.
and is based upon the career and case files of Bartholomew Chassenee, an actual lawyer of the time who served as an advocate for animals who were accused of crimes. At the time, animal trial
s were used to determine if animals were the perpetrators of supernatural
mayhem. Animals were subject to the same civil laws and penalties as human beings under French law
, 1403–1596.
Richard Courtois (Firth) and his clerk Mathieu (Carter) have left the decadence of Paris
in order to practise Law
in what they believe to be a quiet rural village, Abbeville
, in the province of Ponthieu
. Courtois quickly becomes involved in a number of back-logged cases.
For his first case, he defends a farmer who is accused of killing his wife's lover. Courtois gets him acquitted (the farmer mutters, "I should have done him years ago" as he leaves and offers to help Courtois anytime). In his next case, Courtois fails to save Jeannine, a woman accused of witchcraft
. He asks for rats to be called as witnesses to testify that she did not bribe them to infect her neighbour; when the rats do not appear the following day as summoned, this charge is struck off. However, Courtois overlooks a trivial difference between Roman law and the Ponthieu law and she is sentenced to be hanged anyway. As she is led away she tells Courtois, "There is darkness all about you, you can bring the light. Look to the boy, maître. Look to the boy."
At her execution, Jeannine says she will not curse the town but blesses it, saying a fine Knight will arrive and deliver them from their lying and evil.
Courtois takes on a case defending a pig that is accused of killing a young Jewish boy. The pig, however, belongs to a band of Moors
(alternatively/first thought to be Gypsies, being referred to as coming from "Little Egypt") passing through town. Two of the Moors, Mahmoud (Sami Bouajila
) and his sister Samira (Annabi), appeal to Courtois to save the pig, as it is their only source of food for the coming winter. Courtois declines. Samira later enters Courtois's room at night and quietly strips off, offering her body in exchange for his services, but he declines her offer, and the next day offers her enough money to purchase two pigs; she refuses the offer.
As Courtois delves deeper into the case and becomes more involved with Samira, he discovers that there is more at work than a simple murder. His work is brought to the attention of Seigneur Jehan d'Auferre (Williamson), who has his own designs on Courtois. Soon, Courtois finds that he is being used as a pawn in a complicated game of sociopolitical intrigue that extends beyond mere racism and corruption. The Seigneur subtly offers to bribe Courtois, also hinting that his daughter Filette is available in marriage. The Seigneur's son and daughter are eccentric to the point of insanity. The son's main hobby seems to be torturing birds.
Courtois's relationship with Samira becomes common knowledge. The Seigneur decides to sit in at the court and uses this knowledge to threaten Courtois into letting the pig be executed. Just as the case seems to be over, the Advent
festival begins and the case is adjourned.
The prosecutor Pincheon (Pleasence) tells Courtois that he moved from Paris to Ponthieu as Courtois did, in order to shine in a village in a way he could not in Paris. He urges Courtois to go back to Paris and not waste his life amongst ignorant superstitious people.
The skeleton of another Jewish boy who went missing over a year ago is found while Courtois's house is being built. Courtois now suspects a human serial killer
is at large and the pig has been framed.
On Christmas Day, Samira performs for a gathering of notables at the Seigneur's chateau. She is almost arrested for drawing a knife on the Seigneur's son after he pours wine down her blouse. Courtois boldly leads her away. That night, he rescues a boy from a masked horseman who is wielding an axe.
Courtois confronts the Seigneur, telling him his son is the killer. The Seigneur does not deny it and reveals that his son has left for England to be treated. At the trial, the pig is acquitted when Valliere, the farmer Courtois saved in his first case at Abbeville, brings in a replica pig which he claims absconded at the time of the killing.
As Courtois leaves, he sees a Knight arriving just as Jeannine had foretold. After he has left, the Knight goes to a room and takes off his armour to reveal that he bears the characteristic bubo
es of the Black Death
.
as The Advocate. Besides having its name changed, the film's content was cut down to 102 minutes for the U.S. release - according to viewers who have seen both versions, some cuts were to avoid an NC-17 rating, while others were for either length or pacing reasons, which has left many viewers feeling that the shorter version of this film is somewhat confusing.
in the UK (running to 107m 46s due to PAL speed-up). Only the shorter (R-rated) version of the film was released to VHS or DVD in North America.
----
1993 in film
The year 1993 in film involved many significant films, including the blockbuster hits Jurassic Park, The Fugitive and The Firm. -Events:...
British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
/French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
film by writer/director Leslie Megahey, produced by the BBC
BBC Films
BBC Films is the feature film-making arm of the BBC. It has produced or co-produced some of the most successful British films of recent years, including An Education, StreetDance 3D, Fish Tank, Stage Beauty, A Cock and Bull Story, Nativity! and Match Point.It aims to make strong British films with...
. The film stars Colin Firth
Colin Firth
SirColin Andrew Firth, CBE is a British film, television, and theatre actor. Firth gained wide public attention in the 1990s for his portrayal of Mr. Darcy in the 1995 television adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice...
, Ian Holm
Ian Holm
Sir Ian Holm, CBE is an English actor known for his stage work and for many film roles. He received the 1967 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor for his performance as Lenny in The Homecoming and the 1998 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor for his performance in the title role of King Lear...
, Donald Pleasence
Donald Pleasence
Sir Donald Henry Pleasence, OBE, was a British actor who gained more than 200 screen credits during a career which spanned over four decades...
, Nicol Williamson
Nicol Williamson
Nicol Williamson is a Scottish-born English actor who was described by English playwright John Osborne as "the greatest actor since Marlon Brando".-Early life:...
, Jim Carter and Amina Annabi. It was released in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
as The Advocate. The film is usually categorised as a drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
, although it could also be classified as a mystery
Mystery fiction
Mystery fiction is a loosely-defined term.1.It is often used as a synonym for detective fiction or crime fiction— in other words a novel or short story in which a detective investigates and solves a crime mystery. Sometimes mystery books are nonfiction...
or a black comedy
Black comedy
A black comedy, or dark comedy, is a comic work that employs black humor or gallows humor. The definition of black humor is problematic; it has been argued that it corresponds to the earlier concept of gallows humor; and that, as humor has been defined since Freud as a comedic act that anesthetizes...
.
For its UK theatrical release, the film was given a 15 certificate, while the North American release was rated R, primarily due to its nudity and sexual content.
Plot
The Hour of the Pig is set in 15th-century FranceFrance in the Middle Ages
France in the Middle Ages covers an area roughly corresponding to modern day France, from the death of Louis the Pious in 840 to the middle of the 15th century...
and is based upon the career and case files of Bartholomew Chassenee, an actual lawyer of the time who served as an advocate for animals who were accused of crimes. At the time, animal trial
Animal trial
In legal history, an animal trial was the criminal trial of a non-human. Such trials are recorded as having taken place in Europe from the thirteenth century until the eighteenth...
s were used to determine if animals were the perpetrators of supernatural
Supernatural
The supernatural or is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature...
mayhem. Animals were subject to the same civil laws and penalties as human beings under French law
Law of France
In academic terms, French law can be divided into two main categories: private or judicial law and public law .Judicial law includes, in particular:*civil law ; and*criminal law ....
, 1403–1596.
Richard Courtois (Firth) and his clerk Mathieu (Carter) have left the decadence of Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
in order to practise Law
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
in what they believe to be a quiet rural village, Abbeville
Abbeville
Abbeville is a commune in the Somme department in Picardie in northern France.-Location:Abbeville is located on the Somme River, from its modern mouth in the English Channel, and northwest of Amiens...
, in the province of Ponthieu
Ponthieu
Ponthieu was one of six feudal counties that eventually merged together to become part of the Province of Picardy, in northern France. Its chief town is Abbeville.- History :...
. Courtois quickly becomes involved in a number of back-logged cases.
For his first case, he defends a farmer who is accused of killing his wife's lover. Courtois gets him acquitted (the farmer mutters, "I should have done him years ago" as he leaves and offers to help Courtois anytime). In his next case, Courtois fails to save Jeannine, a woman accused of witchcraft
Witchcraft
Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft...
. He asks for rats to be called as witnesses to testify that she did not bribe them to infect her neighbour; when the rats do not appear the following day as summoned, this charge is struck off. However, Courtois overlooks a trivial difference between Roman law and the Ponthieu law and she is sentenced to be hanged anyway. As she is led away she tells Courtois, "There is darkness all about you, you can bring the light. Look to the boy, maître. Look to the boy."
At her execution, Jeannine says she will not curse the town but blesses it, saying a fine Knight will arrive and deliver them from their lying and evil.
Courtois takes on a case defending a pig that is accused of killing a young Jewish boy. The pig, however, belongs to a band of Moors
Moors
The description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of the Maghreb region who are predominately of Berber and Arab descent. They came to conquer and rule the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years. At that time they were Muslim, although earlier the people had followed...
(alternatively/first thought to be Gypsies, being referred to as coming from "Little Egypt") passing through town. Two of the Moors, Mahmoud (Sami Bouajila
Sami Bouajila
Sami Bouajila is a French award-winning actor of Tunisian origin.Bouajila's grandfather was a Berber born in Tripoli, Libya and immigrated to Tunisia. Bouajila's father decided to immigrate to France in 1956. Sami was born and grew up in Échirolles, a suburb south of Grenoble...
) and his sister Samira (Annabi), appeal to Courtois to save the pig, as it is their only source of food for the coming winter. Courtois declines. Samira later enters Courtois's room at night and quietly strips off, offering her body in exchange for his services, but he declines her offer, and the next day offers her enough money to purchase two pigs; she refuses the offer.
As Courtois delves deeper into the case and becomes more involved with Samira, he discovers that there is more at work than a simple murder. His work is brought to the attention of Seigneur Jehan d'Auferre (Williamson), who has his own designs on Courtois. Soon, Courtois finds that he is being used as a pawn in a complicated game of sociopolitical intrigue that extends beyond mere racism and corruption. The Seigneur subtly offers to bribe Courtois, also hinting that his daughter Filette is available in marriage. The Seigneur's son and daughter are eccentric to the point of insanity. The son's main hobby seems to be torturing birds.
Courtois's relationship with Samira becomes common knowledge. The Seigneur decides to sit in at the court and uses this knowledge to threaten Courtois into letting the pig be executed. Just as the case seems to be over, the Advent
Advent
Advent is a season observed in many Western Christian churches, a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas. It is the beginning of the Western liturgical year and commences on Advent Sunday, called Levavi...
festival begins and the case is adjourned.
The prosecutor Pincheon (Pleasence) tells Courtois that he moved from Paris to Ponthieu as Courtois did, in order to shine in a village in a way he could not in Paris. He urges Courtois to go back to Paris and not waste his life amongst ignorant superstitious people.
The skeleton of another Jewish boy who went missing over a year ago is found while Courtois's house is being built. Courtois now suspects a human serial killer
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
is at large and the pig has been framed.
On Christmas Day, Samira performs for a gathering of notables at the Seigneur's chateau. She is almost arrested for drawing a knife on the Seigneur's son after he pours wine down her blouse. Courtois boldly leads her away. That night, he rescues a boy from a masked horseman who is wielding an axe.
Courtois confronts the Seigneur, telling him his son is the killer. The Seigneur does not deny it and reveals that his son has left for England to be treated. At the trial, the pig is acquitted when Valliere, the farmer Courtois saved in his first case at Abbeville, brings in a replica pig which he claims absconded at the time of the killing.
As Courtois leaves, he sees a Knight arriving just as Jeannine had foretold. After he has left, the Knight goes to a room and takes off his armour to reveal that he bears the characteristic bubo
Bubo
Bubo may refer to:* A bubo, a rounded swelling on the skin of a person afflicted by the bubonic plague.* Bubo, the horned owl and eagle-owl genus.* Bubo, a mechanical owl in the 1981 film Clash of the Titans...
es of the Black Death
Black Death
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...
.
U.S. version
The Hour of the Pig was released in the United States by MiramaxMiramax Films
Miramax Films is an American entertainment company known for distributing independent and foreign films. For its first 14 years the company was privately owned by its founders, Bob and Harvey Weinstein...
as The Advocate. Besides having its name changed, the film's content was cut down to 102 minutes for the U.S. release - according to viewers who have seen both versions, some cuts were to avoid an NC-17 rating, while others were for either length or pacing reasons, which has left many viewers feeling that the shorter version of this film is somewhat confusing.
Home video releases
The full (112 minute, 16 second) version was released on VHSVHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
in the UK (running to 107m 46s due to PAL speed-up). Only the shorter (R-rated) version of the film was released to VHS or DVD in North America.
External links
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