The Hour of the Pig

RUN TIME: UK - 117 Minutes - Hour Of The Pig US - 102 Minutes - The Advocate	AKA: A Hora Do Porco - Portugal Pesthauch des Posen - Germany Sian hetki - Finland

FILMING LOCATIONS: Rhone-Alpes, France London, England

DIRECTOR: Leslie Megahey	WRITER: Leslie Megahey
PRODUCER: David M. Thompson	CINEMATOGRAPHER: John Hooper

Cast - in credits order Colin Firth ... Richard Courtois Ian Holm ... Albertus Donald Pleasence ... Pincheon Amina Annabi ... Samira Nicol Williamson ... Seigneur Jehan D'Auferre Michael Gough ... Magistrate Boniface Harriet Walter ... Jeannine Martin Jim Carter ... Mathieu Lysette Anthony ... Filette D'Auferre Sophie Dix ... Maria Vincent Grass ... Bailiff Labatier Elizabeth Spriggs ... Madame Langlois Raoul Delfosse ... Blind George Justin Chadwick ... Gerard D'Auferre Jean-Pierre Stewart ... Sheriff Emil Wolk ... Print Seller Dave Atkins ... Valliere Francois Lalande ... Builder Vernon Dobtcheff ... Apothecary Sami Bouajila ...Mahmoud Johanna Dunham ... Lady Catherine D'Auferre Michael Cronin ... Dark Stranger Peter Hudson ... Sheriff's Officer Charles Dale ... First Witness Gordon Langford Rowe ... Second Witness Judy Pascoe ... Traveling Player Roy Evans ... Traveling Player Robert Putt ... Traveling Player Ralph Nosek ... Poiccard Melissa Wilks ... Young Girl David Larkin ... Young Boy Patricia Psaltopoulos ... Peasant Woman Alain Blazquez ... Cuckolded Man Isabelle Marcoz ... Woman in Coach Marie-Pierre Cascales ... Woman in Coach Jean-Jacques Charliot ... Roger Landrier	Production Companies BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) British Screen Finance Ltd. CiBy 2000 European Co-production Fund Distributors Miramax Films (1994) (USA) Miramax Home Entertainment Other Companies ARRI Lighting Rental Limited ... light company Technical Specifications Color info: Color (Rankcolor) Sound mix: Dolby SR

MUSIC: Quant Voi En La Fin D'este - Perrin D'Agincourt Score - Alexandre Desplat

Set in 15th century France. A young Parisian lawyer (Courtois/Firth) wearies of the cynical sophistication of the capital. He travels to the small town of Abbeville and solicits appointment as the public defender in this remote, rural province (Pontieu), where he plans to settle. He finds himself expected to defend a pig in a murder trial. (As the public prosecutor says, "Anyone who knows animals knows there are good ones and bad ones.") What initially appears to be a case based on simple rural superstition turns out to conceal a far worse corruption. He learns that cynical sophistication is not so easily evaded (Courtois - "I don't belong here. I thought it would be simple and peaceful, but it's full of fear this place.") The movie is based on factual cases and the life of Bartholomew Chassenee

August 24, 1994, Wednesday

CULTURAL DESK
FILM REVIEW; Medieval Shenanigans, Even With Donkeys
By JANET MASLIN

Set in 15th-century France and featuring a dignified English cast, "The Advocate" begins with what looks like a pretty fair Monty Python moment. A man is fitted with a noose, about to be executed for having had "carnal knowledge of the she-ass here present." By his side, and also about to be hanged, is a sexually complicit donkey, since this story is set at a time when animals and inanimate objects could be tried under civil law.

When a last-minute pardon arrives, it's not for the man but for his impassive-looking consort. "She is released without stain to her character," intones a solemn magistrate (Michael Gough), who then presides over the man's execution. Decked out in face grime and a fancy array of medieval millinery, the local peasants watch eagerly as justice is done.

Unfortunately, "The Advocate" proves not to be particularly playful about such events. As an earnest, leeringly ribald foray into arcane legal history, with an emphasis on four-legged defendants, its main selling points turn out to be crassness and curiosity value. Anachronisms are also worth notice: "The Advocate" could well prompt speculation about whether early lawyers actually paced the courtroom like 20th-century television stars, or whether there were silicone breast implants during the late Middle Ages.

Miramax, this film's distributor, has tried its best to invite comparison with "The Crying Game," suggesting that "The Advocate" has a big secret in store. But in fact, for all its legal exotica, this film is so ordinary in visual style and basic story line that it holds few surprises. As for the mysterious identity of one defense client, let's just say that "The Advocate" was released in England as "The Hour of the Pig" and that its barnyard-cum-courtroom ambiance loses novelty very quickly. An audience's enjoyment of "The Crying Game" truly depended on keeping that film's secret, but there's no comparable revelation here.

Directed with wavering degrees of levity by Leslie Megahey, whose previous credits are in radio and television, "The Advocate" follows the adventures of its title character, a Parisian lawyer named Richard Courtois (Colin Firth), who travels to a small country town to become a public defender. Along with his idealism, he brings a remarkable assortment of hats, which come close to upstaging the finer points of the law.

The town is controlled by a sardonic, acid-tongued feudal lord (Nicol Williamson) who has bought his title thanks to great success in business and who retains such privileges as the right to preside over civil trials. The film's interest in such historical data, and in the tensions between the church's and the state's separate legal systems, is matched by equal interest in co-ed medieval bathhouses, rollicking wenches and dungeons where the prisoners are left naked.

Aided by his clerk, Mathieu (Jim Carter, providing welcome comic relief), Courtois tries to bring a crusading, grandstanding manner to local trials. His courtroom strategy leans toward lines like "the truth, as always, gentlemen, is simple," which actually suits the film's story better than it should. Despite such novel touches as rats who are asked to testify (never seen on camera, they are described as "witnesses of no fixed abode"), not much about this mystery's denouement would be out of place in contemporary Beverly Hills.

"The Advocate," which opens today, gets a high gloss from the presence of actors like Ian Holm, as a priest who contributes greatly to Courtois's worldly education, and Donald Pleasence, as the weary prosecutor who warns: "Don't grow old and tired in a place like this." Mr. Firth, a pleasantly urbane leading man, glides amiably through an assortment of colorful locals, including the feudal lord's giddy daughter (Lysette Anthony), and an accused witch (Harriet Walter), whose fate is fairly mild, under the circumstances. There's nothing of "The Devils" in this film's blithe version of medieval persecution.

Also on hand is a smoldering Gypsy lass (the Tunisian-born French singer Amina Annabi) whose presence lets the film explore the era's reigning prejudices. Every so often, "The Advocate" finds room for remarkable footnotes about the small-mindedness of its time. Rats can be summoned as courtroom witnesses, but a Jewish doctor cannot. The story, which begins in 1452, is said to take place only 30 years after cohabiting with a Jew ceased to be a capital crime.

Published: 08 - 24 - 1994 , Late Edition - Final , Section C , Column 1 , Page 11

Date: 5 November 2003
Summary: Brilliant Movie!!
*Warning! Contains some spoilers!*

An intelligent story brought to live with a brilliant cast!

"Firth" of all of course Colin Firth who is as endearing and convincing as always. He just radiates so much honesty into this character and to us being witty, sexy, passionate, sly and clever at the same time.

I regard him as the best English actor of his time!

He plays a lawyer looking for peace, justice and a quiet life in the country in order to escape political corruption. And every lawyer in real life will tell you that those are unreachable goals and the quest is just grotesque. But Richard Courtois starts with the best intentions in mind and acts accordingly, even almost completely disregarding his own safety. Partly because he naively believes the law to bring justice and not the money or the political power. A lawyer with ideals, a heart and conscience, a rarity.

Ian Holm is beautifully cast as priest Albertus who goes after women nevertheless, twisting everything the way it fits him best while always having a sharp look and the wits to escape the Inquisition and the mighty landlord. The conversations between him and the greenhorn lawyer are refreshing, funny and also frustrating when Albertus denies what he really knows to be right in order to preserve his good life. He betrays his friend Courtois by doing that looking him straight in the eye.

The crime, the perpetrator and the mystery are well developed and the truth isn't revealed until the very end. I enjoyed myself tremendously (being a lawyer myself and realizing that the madness brought before court is still the same though the laws have changed... well, a bit... *lol*)