The Advocate

The Advocate

Animals were once subject to the same laws as human beings, according to “The Advocate,” and could be taken into court, tried and sentenced. The film indeed starts with a man and his donkey on a gallows, about to die for committing an unnatural act. But fortunately the donkey is let off at the last moment.

This sets the tone for “The Advocate,” a quirkily British movie that seems to aim halfway between Monty Python and “Sommersby.” Our hero is Richard Courtois (Colin Firth), who after becoming a lawyer in Paris journeys out to the provinces to set up shop in Abbeville. He seems oddly modern for a lawyer of this period more Perry Mason than medieval as he tries to use logic against a crusty old magistrate whose main interest is seeing things done exactly as they always have been.

The times are precariously poised between ancient and modern. The district is ruled by a Seigneur (Nicol Williamson), who lives in the local castle and holds court and has it his way. But on the other hand, he’s not some hereditary lord; he happily tells Courtois that he made a bundle in business, then bought his lands and their title. And he has his problems topmost among them marrying off his daughter Filette (Lysette Anthony), who at 20 is long in the tooth, marriage wise.

“I know she brays like a she-ass, but she’s got good sweaty flesh on her,” the Seigneur assures the lawyer.

Courtois isn’t much interested; he’s smitten by a buxom Gypsy lass named Samira (Armina Annabi), who, like all independent women of this era, lives under constant threat of being burned as witch. She’s passionate and good humored two qualities important to any lawyer and has a nice moment when she screams out what sounds like an evil ancient curse, then later admits it was just a Gypsy nursery rhyme. Delivery is everything.

During the course of the movie Courtois will be called upon to defend not only Samira but also another local woman charged with witchcraft, and various other clients including a pig and some rats.

He does his best. And the film does its peculiar best; without quite declaring itself a comedy or satire, it works in a lot of sly humor, as in the exchanges between Courtois and his law clerk (Jim Carter), who understands the town much better than his boss.

Nicol Williamson, too rarely seen on film today, has great magisterial vulgarity as the Seigneur, reducing everything and everyone to his own piggish appetites. And it was good to see Donald Pleasance again, as the local prosecutor. Pleasance was a mainstay of British horror movies of the ’60s and ’70s (and most of the “Halloween” pictures), and exudes an air of conspiratorial menace that’s all the more unsettling when he’s on the side of law.

Miramax tried really hard to gain attention for “The Advocate” by creating a fuss with the MPAA ratings board and then asking critics to keep secret one of its characters’ “secret.” This trick was valid when Miramax wanted to protect the surprise in “The Crying Game,” but how important can a surprise be if the film appeared in England under the title “Hour of the Pig”? “The Advocate” doesn’t rely on sex or secrets, however; it earns its charm honestly.

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