The Hour of the Pig (film)
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| The Hour of the Pig | |
|---|---|
 American theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Leslie Megahey |
| Produced by | David M. Thompson |
| Written by | Leslie Megahey |
| Starring | Colin Firth Ian Holm Donald Pleasance |
| Music by | Alexandre Desplat |
| Cinematography | Denis Lenoir |
| Release date(s) | 25 September 1993 (Dinard Festival of British Cinema) 21 January 1994 (UK) 24 August 1994 (USA) |
| Running time | 112m 16s (UK) |
| Country | United Kingdom France |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
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 Pleasance, 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, it was given a '15' certificate, while the North American release was rated R, primarily for nudity and sexual content.
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[edit] Plot
The film is set in 15th century France and is based upon the career and case files of Bartholomew Chassenee, an actual lawyer of the time that served as an advocate for animals who were accused of crimes. At the time, animal trials were used to determine if animals were the perpetrators of supernatural mayhem, and animals were subject to the same civil laws and penalties as human beings.
Richard Courtois (Firth) and his loyal clerk Mathieu (Carter) have left the decadence of Paris for what they believe will be a quiet life in the rural village of Ponthieu. Courtois quickly becomes involved in a number of back-logged cases, from murder to witchcraft. He takes on a case defending a pig that is accused of killing a young Jewish boy. The pig, however, belongs to a band of Gypsies passing through town who appeal to Courtois to save the pig, as it is their only source of food for the coming winter.
As Courtois delves deeper into the case, and becomes more involved with the beautiful gypsy Samira (Annabi), 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 highly complicated game of sociopolitical intrigue that extends beyond merely racism and corruption.
[edit] Alternate version
Besides having its name changed to The Advocate, the film's content was cut down to 102 minutes when it was imported to the United States - according to viewers who have seen both versions, some cuts were to avoid an NC-17 rating, while others were trimmed for either length or pacing reasons, which has left many viewers feeling that the shorter version of this rather complicated film is somewhat confusing.
[edit] Commercial releases
The full 112m 16s version was released on VHS in the UK (running to 107m 46s for technical reasons). Only the shorter (R-rated) version of the film was ever released to VHS or DVD in North America.
