THE ADVOCATE
A film review by Ben Hoffman
Copyright 1994 Ben Hoffman
Even before the opening titles and credits are completed we knew we were in for something more ribald than even a Boccaccio would have dared. Based on documents and court records circa 1450, THE ADVOCATE relates the story of a young, handsome, dashing lawyer, Richard Courtois, (Colin Firth) who leaves Paris to travel the countryside and help the people who lead more simple lives and whose problems are of a different nature than those to which he has been accustomed. How different they are astonish not only him but will shock you as well.
Superstition in the countryside is the norm. Between the powerful Roman Catholic Church and the feudal noblemen of the time, and the simple-minded folklore of the citizenry, life here is far, far different than in Paris. When a band of Gypsies arrives from Africa they are greeted with hostility and fear. Among the new arrivals is the smokily sultry Samira (Amina Annabi) with whom Courtois falls in love. When she runs afoul of the ludicrous laws of the town, it is he who takes her case to fight the prosecutor, (Donald Pleasance) who, in fact, is but a lackey of the local landowner, the Seigneur.
In this strange setting is the beautiful Filette, (Lysette Anthony) the not-right-in the head daughter of the Seigneur, the result of years of in-breeding. There is the priest, Albertus (Ian Holm), who knows right from wrong, and befriends the Advocate ... but is careful not to overstep himself because he would lose his power over his flock. The Seigneur is played by Nicol Williamson with a nice haughty manner as befits a Lord who runs the town.
Written and Directed by Leslie Megahey
2 Bytes 4 Bytes = Absolutely must see. 3 Bytes = Too good to be missed. 2 Bytes = So so. 1 Byte = Save your money.
Ben Hoffman
.
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews