The Hour of the Pig

In darkest medieval France, legislation languishes beneath the pendulum sway of ecclesiastical caprice and peasant superstition. Against this backdrop, Renaissance man and Parisian lawyer Richard Courtois (Firth) makes his grand entrance, only to find that his first case in an isolated rural community is to defend a pig charged with the murder of a young boy. As the drama uncoils into folds of seigneurial corruption and forbidden sexuality, ethnic tension and church indifference, the slightly ramshackle narrative proves both educational and highly entertaining. Although revelling in the bawdy absurdities of lovingly textured authenticity, writer/director Megahey's film remains thoroughly modern in outlook, refreshingly irreverent in tone and remarkably accomplished in execution.