The Hour of the Pig (1993)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Leslie Megahey

Writer:

Leslie Megahey (written by)

Release Date:

24 August 1994 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | History | Mystery

Tagline:

When murder is the motive, seduction is the last defense.

Plot:

In medieval France, young lawyer Richard Courtois leaves Paris for the simpler life in the country. However...

Plot Keywords:

France | Animal | Paris | Gypsy | Medieval

Cast

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

Also Known As:

The Advocate

Runtime:

UK:112 min | USA:102 min

Country:

France | UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Rankcolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

UK:15 | USA:NC-17 (original rating) | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Ealing Studios, Ealing, London, England, UK

Company:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Goofs:

Miscellaneous: In the epilogue crawl, the character name Mathieu is spelled once correctly, and in a subsequent paragraph as Mathiew.

Quotes:

Richard Courtois: There must be priests in Hell.
Albertius: Can't move for them.

Soundtrack:

Quant Voi en la Fin D'este

Solid film that never overcomes quirk factor

I saw this film as "The Advocate," not that it matters, but just so you know. The place where I rented it didn't have the original box, so I had NO idea what the film was about. I was, um, surprised.

Colin Firth plays a 15th-century lawyer (called an advocate) who moves to the country from Paris. He wants to get in touch with the real essence of the law, defending the common folk and such. As it turns out, animals can be charged with crimes as well. Poor Colin finds himself defending rats and a pig in open court. (I could make a really obvious crack about the parallels to the practices of modern law, but that's a tad crass. Truthful, but crass.)

The film's claim that the secret of the movie is along the same lines of "The Crying Game" is surely meant as a joke. Still, the movie spends too much dwelling on the absurdity of defending animals and not enough time finding a story to tell. There is some twaddle about defending a beautiful gypsy woman's pig in a murder trial, but it is never gripping or, sadly, interesting.

The acting make up for the triteness of the story, though. Firth is solid and has some great scenes with the Seigneur who owns the land and the village Firth comes to reside in. There is also a small appearance by the wonderful, underrated, nuanced, subtle IAN HOLM~ as a shady priest. The cast raises the film from the status of sideshow curiosity.

While the "Crying Game" style secret is a reference to the murder case that is (ultimately) shuffled off to the side of the movie, I have no problem revealing another big secret of "The Advocate": the sow is really a hog!!!