All language subtitles for The.Advocate.1993

Roger Landrier...

you are declared attainted and
convicted of crimes against nature...

in that you did have carnal knowledge
of the she-ass here present.

And that over the past 10 years, you
have similarly confounded yourself...

with a number of bitches
of your own household...

and with two ewes...

the property of your neighbor
Deschauffeur.

You are delivered to
the Master of High Works...

to be stripped
and hanged by the neck...

and strangled
until you are dead.

As the law requires,
your collaborator, the she - ass...

will suffer the same penalty
on the gibbet beside you.

The Lord have mercy on us.

Stop! Stop!

Stop!

Father Lucian
of the village of Ezies...

brings a petition from
the good people of his parish.

"This document testifies to
the previous good character...

"of the beast here present,
known as Virginie...

"and attests she could never
have willingly participated in...

the unnatural act
for which she is condemned."

It is my direction...

that the person of the she-ass
was violated without her consent.

She is released
without stain to her character.

Proceed.

In nomine Patris, et Fili,
et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.

Come on, now!
Hup! Hup!

Come on there!

In the Year of our Lord 1452...

I, Mathieu, lawyer's clerk,
left the fine city of Paris...

to accompany my youthful master,
the advocate...

in search of
the simple country pleasures.

It was my master's fervent hope
that in a modest rural practice...

he might escape the politicking
and corruption of the big city.

For my part, I was doubtful
whether amongst the peasantry...

and the wiles of Ponthieu...

we'd find anything approximating
to the Garden of Eden.

But then, I'm not the advocate.

Hey!

No-o-o!

I was asleep, was I?

- Did I make a noise?
- Monsieur was dreaming, perhaps.

I don't dream, madame.
Was I snoring? Yes.

They've stopped to let
the hunt go by.

Which way?

Maitre?

- Whose castle is it?
- - The seigneur Jehan dAuferre.

- He's the Lord of Abbeville, monsieur.
- Maitre.

Monsieur is an advocate of law,
so monsieur is a maitre.

- We'll be working in Abbeville.
- They have a lawyer there.

Now they've two.

Seven hours.
We could have had better company.

The woman was
entertaining enough.

She said when the seigneur gets tired
of hunting deer and wild pig...

- he uses human quarry.
- I didn't hear that.

- You were asleep, Maitre.
- You'll have to get used to country gossip, Mathieu.

But you'll find them
good people, real people.

- Evening!
- Shove off!

- Sanctuary.
- Maitre Courtois?

From Paris?
You're very welcome, Maitre.

We have the best rooms for you,
and one next to you for your servant.

- Mathieu's my clerk.
- Hurry up, Isabelle.

- Now, you'll have sausage and stew?
- Oh, yes.

No! "Under green leaves
beside a noisy brook..."

"The peasant Gontier took his meal
on fresh cheese, apple and plum...

"chopped shallots on
a crust of good bread...

with course salt,
the better to drink."

No sausage.

What's the animal doing here?

The seigneurJehan d'Auferre
has lost his quarry.

Look at the way
she holds herself.

Country girls, Mathieu.

- You can keep your whores in Saint-Denis.
- Oh, thanks.

- Good God! That dog smiled at me.
- 'Course he did, Maitre.

I never saw a dog smile.

I curse your dingle dangle prick,
your nasty wrinkled little wick!

God painted my soul black,
madame, when he pushed me up...

- your crack!
- - Tell me about the country lawyer.

His name's Pincheon,
and he's been state prosecutor 15 years.

- And he's no country lawyer.
- You know him?

If he's the same Pincheon,
he's from Paris, lie be la Cite.

Ever shall they reconcile
the cock and cunt that each revile.

- Good God!
- The simple country pleasures.

Opposing now and evermore...

- You've seen him work, this Pincheon?
- He's good.

Was good, if it's him.
He took on the Maitre Delamain.

Chewed him up and
spat him out, they say.

See the butcher here below...

his big knife sharpened
for the blow.

- Courtroom?
- Well, Pincheon could've come up against an easier prosecutor.

Maitre Courtois from Paris!

Domini.

Albertus of this parish.

You must come
and visit me, Maitre.

Anyone who's read a book
has been sent by the Almighty.

He's very good, the priest.

How extraordinary!

The blackamoors, are they?

No, they're from Little Egypt.

Reached Paris already,
some of them.

Spreading like rats.

Maitre Pincheon?

Yes.

Maitre! Richard Courtois.
I'm the new advocate.

I'm looking forward
to crossing swords with you.

Maitre.

- Good God!
- We haven't had a defense advocate since last summer.

Some of these have been waiting
for five, six months.

They'll be peasant quarrels,
Mathieu:

A meter here or there of a boundary,
a grandfather's rights of pasture.

- You'll have to get used to...
- Murder.

- Murder?
- A cuckold... smashed the skull of his wife's fancy man.

A rape here.
And, witchery!

No. That should be
tried by the church.

It's been there, Maitre.
They sent it back to the civil court.

Here's a sodomite.
Buggered his donkey.

Oh, no.
Dispatched, that one.

- Good God, what is this?
- Must be the country air.

You slut!

You've been off screwing him again,
haven't you?

Who is the bastard?

I'll kill him!
I'll cut his balls off!

Can I help?

- Maitre Courtois!
- Father Albertus.

I... what a beautiful morning!

Just, walking off a heavy meal.

Are you going to town?
Oh, no, no.

Yes. I... well,
I have to. I...

Your future home, Maitre.

The builder's design.

Gentlemen, you've heard the Maitre
Pincheon accuse my client, Valliere...

this honest and gentle farmer...

of the savage murder of a man he
believed to be his wife's lover.

The maitre laments that
the law does not permit him...

to call the wife of the accused
to give testimony.

Nevertheless, I ask you to observe
the evidence she presents to you.

There, gentlemen,
is the object of desire.

Now, I don't doubt that
the beldame is a dutiful wife.

But I have to ask you, is this a woman
for whom the carnal lusts of one man...

and the hot blood of jealousy in another
led to a terrible revenge?

Truth, as always, gentlemen,
is simple.

The deceased was a drunk...
and a thief.

Several witnesses
have avowed it.

He came by night
to the home of the accused...

was disturbed
in the act of theft...

and in the struggle which followed, his
drunken skull banged against the hearth...

and he expired.

The accused
had nothing to gain...

and everything to lose
from the death of a scoundrel.

It is your privilege now,
gentlemen, to set him free.

It is in your capable hands.

So avowed
on the part of Valliere.

Not as sharp as you thought,
the famous Pincheon.

I owe you my life, monseigneur.
I won't forget it.

They had a bad case.
The maitre did his best with it.

No, they'd have strung me up
if you'd not been here...

and all for that bastard!

I should've done him years ago.

Anything you ever want,
Maitre, ask for Valliere.

- Mathieu, do you think...
- Yes, Maitre.

That the man really screwed his wife,
that little church mouse?

I gather the deceased
screwed quite a few wives...

including those of several members
of the judiciary.

"Just country gossip."

- We should see the witch. They could burn her.
- They hang them here.

Where is your glory, Babylon?

Where is now Nebuchadnezzar?
Where the evil doers of times past?

The death by hanging only this
past month of Roger Landrier...

and the miraculous reprieve
of his own she-ass by the grace of God.

See how worms devour
the fair Absalom.

Her flesh was soft.
But alas, her belly...

gapes with the cruel wounds of death.

- What is it?
- Oh, the poor little boy. The blood on him!

What happened?

- Must've had a bad fall. He looked terrible.
- He looked dead.

Little Jewish boy.
Shame, though.

- How do you know he was Jewish?
- The mother.

White circle on the breast.
They make them wear it.

- How long have we been here, Mathieu?
- All of five days, Maitre.

The devil's mark, Maitre.

You see?
The third nipple.

- The witch's teat.
- I was a wet-nurse, monseigneur.

That was a birth mark before you stuck
your damn needles in it.

And you keep her naked,
do you, like an animal?

She's pricked twice a day,
Maitre.

In cases of witchery,
evidence may be obtained by duress...

and the prisoner
will be stripped for the ordeal.

Labatier says I've got tits
like a milk cow.

Labatier, you're not an officer
of the Inquisition. You've no right.

Oh, yes.
I'm a licensed pricker.

Loose her...
and bring her clothes now.

Yes, I suckled Lucifer.

But since then I've tasted of the
blood of Christ from his five wounds.

You don't have to talk to me like that.
I want her dressed now!

I'm not with them.
Do you understand?

Put down: The body
is badly marked...

there are signs of torture
in the second and third degree.

Maitre, I flew on beams
and kissed the devil's ass...

- and I'll be hanged for it.
- No.

Church has made you excommunicate,
and passed you over to the civil court.

The court is not concerned with witchery.
What you're accused of is maleficium:

That your witchery
caused injury to your neighbors.

It's not a civil offense
to do magic.

- You understand?
- I helped them.

When the women
couldn't stop their bleeding...

- or when the children were dying...
- You put a curse on your neighbor...

- Jehan Lours.
- He pulled down my fence!

- Caused him to be impotent.
- He hadn't had it up for years!

Well, that counts as injury.
And you "procured and suborned rats...

to bite and infectJehan Perrinot
so that he died of a fatal miasma."

It was the falling sickness.
Everybody knows that.

Well, that's the charge
we have to worry about.

If I can get you clear of the business with
the rats, you'll confess to the other counts.

- They're not capital.
- I done no harm.

Trust me, it's an arrangement.
It's how we do it.

I'm going to tell you
what you have to say.

You've another one come in, Maitre:
A child killer.

- Murdered a littleJewish boy.
- Murder, was it?

The worst, Maitre.

- Let's see him.
- Her, Maitre.

I'll take you to her.

- What is this?
- Your client, Maitre.

Courtois, are you telling me
you're innocent of this whole process...

- the arraignment of beasts?
- No, sir.

It's just that in the city, I've never
had the occasion to be involved.

Maitre Pincheon,
are you with all this?

Do you go along with being
the learned prosecutor of a pig?

- Do you have witnesses?
- Yes.

They saw the child killed?

I gather when the body was found,
a pig was seen running off.

- A sign of its guilt, do you suppose?
- Indeed, Maitre!

You know they keep the animal
in the jail with the other prisoners?

It's all according
to the book, Maitre:

- Same quarters, same food three times a day.
- Think on it, Courtois.

The animal has to have counsel,
the state pays your fee.

Now, gentlemen...

On the matter of the woman,
the one charged with witchery.

If I can satisfy the court on the
maleficium, the business with the rats...

- do we have an arrangement?
- If you can disprove the rats...

then I think things would go
better for her on the other counts.

She would lose her land,
of course, and...

What else can I say?

Not a great deal of witchery
in the city either, Courtois?

Have you read the text?

The Ponthieu law
can be rather confounding.

Oh, I think the city lawyer
will adapt, a day at a time, Maitre.

Maria? Maria!

Excuse us, Maitre.

It's our pig.
They took our pig.

I, I thought you couldn't...

I thought your religion
didn't allow it.

The maitre should not think
we eat only children.

We lost our religion many years ago,
and 1,000 miles away.

I am Mahmoud.
My sister is Samira.

- I can't help you.
- But we go to the court...

- I am not in their employ, and I don't defend pigs.
- Maitre, this could work if we...

- God preserve us! They can't stay here.
- All right, Mathieu.

Our pig does not run free.
She is tied up all the time.

- Then they come to take her away.
- A black sow, prick ears...

marked on the nether part
of the eye and the mouth.

- Three witnesses saw your pig by the church.
- They are lying to you!

My sister says if it's money...

- she can get some little money.
- I'll bet she can.

Mathieu! You've lost
your pig, that's all.

Leave the town, go away,
buy another one.

I did not go through all this
to become an advocate for pigs.

Do you want to talk about
the rats now, Maitre?

As long as I live,
I'll not believe a woman...

can fly through the air
like a blackbird or a hawk.

And when the poor creature
lies down in her bed to sleep...

the enemy who never sleeps comes to
her side to call up illusions before her.

He does it so subtlety
that she thinks she does...

what she only dreams she does.

She might dream she goes for a ride
on a broom or a beam...

but there's neither
broom nor beam can hold her.

Father Ignatius proved there was not
a single case of witchcraft...

in 50 years in Arras
based on any real evidence.

They burnt him too, of course.

Would you say all that in court?

Richard, I like it here.
It's a very nice living.

Having my balls burnt off in public
might take some of the pleasure out of it.

It's a great leveler, you see?

Peasants, fine ladies,
thieves, gentlefolk.

- Priests?
- Yes... medicinal reasons.

I get this rash
at least once a week.

I thought nakedness was
an abomination unto the Lord.

Only that of thy brother...
and sister.

Morning, sister.

God, I think about them
all the time.

- Do you ever get over it?
- No.

In his wisdom, he's sent them
for our temptation.

And by heavens,
he knew what he was doing.

- A pig.
- They want me to defend a pig.

It's madness.
What do I do?

My son, don't ask me.
I'm a country priest.

I studied theology at Rheims, liberal arts
at Oxford, natural philosophy in Paris...

and look what I do with it!

Domini, is it a mortal sin
to screw my sister-in-law?

No, my son. It's what we define
as a shameful act.

Father, does the soul
consist of bread or wind?

Well, today it's bread:
Tomorrow it'll be wind.

Is it a heresy to hold a candle
to the mouth of a dying man?

Well, who cares! If he's dying,
you might as well stick it up his ass.

Do the souls of the wicked
penetrate the bodies of young women?

Well, who wouldn't
given half a chance?

Is intercourse less of a sin
with a wife than a mistress?

Since, my child, in the end everything
is forbidden, then everything is allowed.

Well, that's Catharism.

- They could really burn you for that.
- Is it?

Or sophistry?
All I'm saying is...

- What has this to do with a pig?
- All I'm saying is...

that in a world
where nothing is reasonable...

in the end,
nothing can be truly mad.

Let me understand this, Courtois.
In order to disprove the count...

that the woman suborned the rats
to cause her neighbor's death...

it is your wish that we call
those rats as witnesses?

And how would the maitre
have us execute a warrant?

Do we send armed sheriffs
to arrest them?

No, Maitre. They must testify
of their own free will.

Roman law, State of Ponthieu...

1432, in the case of summonses to be
served on witnesses of no fixed abode:

"Exhibitiat in
arenam publicum sub - poenas."

I ask that notices be fixed
to barn doors and to every tree...

everywhere the rats are known to congregate,
summoning them to appear in court.

- It can't work.
- It might.

Delay and confuse.

Bailiff, put up the notices.

We will reconvene tomorrow.

If the rats do not appear,
the count will be taken as proven.

Your witnesses, Maitre.

They have not attended.

How curious!

And the notices were clearly inscribed
in the French language?

Then I think you are lost
on that count.

- Shall we move to the next?
- No. With respect.

"If a person be cited to appear as witness at
a place to which he cannot come with safety...

he may refuse
the said summons or writ."

I draw the court's attention
to the unwearied vigilance...

of the mortal enemies
of these rats:

That is, every cat and dog who
lie in wait for them, with fell intent...

in every corner and passageway.

I submit that the witnesses,
in fear of their lives...

have exercised their right
to refuse the summons.

There are further measures, which will,
I regret, take up more of the court's time.

Strike that count off the record:

Suborning the rats. The
rest of her confession stands?

Jeannine Martin...

in the matter of causing
maleficium to your neighbors...

you will be ducked
and exhibited...

in a hanging cage
for a day and a night.

The learned procurators
have leave to go...

while I consider
the second judgment.

There are no more counts,
monseigneur.

But I have to enact the verdict of the
Holy Fathers. I have to do that, don't I?

Not your concern, Maitre.
Don't worry.

You've done with the temporal charges.
You can't act for the church.

There's no court in France...

You're not in the fine kingdom
of France now.

We have the Ponthieu law here:
Our law.

You should study it
further, perhaps.

In your deposition
to the Holy Fathers...

you confessed that
at the age of 34...

you made a compact
with the devil...

and took a spoon ofblood
from your body to seal this compact.

Wait. I must ask leave
to examine this.

Did she not confess this?
Did you?

- Yes.
- She confesses she confessed.

But they sentenced her.
She's excommunicate.

You will keep your silence,
or you will leave this court.

Jeannine Martin...

you'll be taken outside
the walls of this town...

where you will be
hanged by the neck...

and strangled
until you are dead.

- Your body will be burned.
- But the maitre told me...

Wait! This is unlawful! Wait!
You promised her her life.

Now that would have been unlawful,
would it not? Take her away.

I did ask you
if you'd read the text.

- That is nowhere in the Roman law.
- Custom and practice, Maitre.

Why didn't I know that?

Why didn't you?

There is darkness all about you.

You can bring the light.

Look to the boy, Maitre!

Look to the boy!

You!

- What are you doing there?
- We're baptizing them.

Sending them on their way,
all good Christian souls.

- They were going to stop here. Can you believe that?
- Sheriff!

There is no statute to prevent these
people from making their camp here.

Yes there is... mine.

No, sir. They are outside the walls of
the town. And I'm an advocate at law.

- You cannot prevent them. Now what is this?
- Water and lime.

They've come up from the south.
They could be carrying the black death.

I do have the right.

Yes. Well, after that you can leave them
be to stop here or go on. You understand?

And you and your men
will not lay a finger on them.

What was that, Maitre?

You know you talk in your sleep?

- Was it a nice dream?
- What?

No. No, it wasn't...

Oh, now.
I think it must've been.

It's all right, Maitre.
I've got brothers.

Well, I don't know.

Past first light already, and I do
believe the cock's all set to crow again.

Waste not, want not.

- Maitre, are you all right?
- Yes!

"Jehan d'Auferre,
Seigneur of Abbeville...

"asks the Maitre Courtois
to attend him tomorrow...

before noon,
if he will."

Hello.

Come andjoin me, Maitre.

I wish you long life,
monseigneur, and...

honored to be a guest in your home.

These are beautifully...

My wife chooses the decorations.
I'm a merchant turned farmer...

one of the, what they call,
the new lords.

I made my money in Joinville.
I bought the land here...

- and the title came with it.
- So, how long have you...

So, since I am
a humble merchant...

I'll say what I have to say,
and then we can talk.

You've...

made a good reputation
in the town.

They say you know the common law,
and you're clear and just in your dealings.

They're not used to that here.

And Pincheon has done
well enough for me in the past.

But, well, he's one
of the old school.

He's cold mackerel.
Don't you think?

Yes.

Monseigneur, I'm honored by
your confidence, believe me.

Only the seigneur will understand
that I left Paris for a purpose.

- I wanted to serve the people, not the...
- What, the peasants?

Well yes, them too,
b-but mainly...

Four hundred livre a year.

- Excuse me?
- That's double what I pay Pincheon.

Four times what you'll make
doing your good deeds.

Well, think about it.

Seigneur, I ask leave to petition you
for the Little Egyptians.

They've been subject daily to insults,
two of their men were badly beaten.

They'll be left in peace.

Are you defending their pig?

No. There's
no reason to.

The reason is order:
Order and rule.

Trying a pig brings order?

You know, Maitre, there are things
that a country lawyer just has to do.

So why don't you say your peace,
pick up the money...

and let them hang the beast?

It's only a pig.

How was she?

Oh, she spoke.

Somebody shouted out,
"What about the witch's curse?"

Everybody shushed him up.

And then she just
stared out at the crowd...

- and she said, no, she wouldn't put a curse on the town.
- I will not curse this town.

- She left it a blessing.
- I will leave it with a blessing.

- She said...
- These are bad times...

and there'll be more before
your day of deliverance.

Then I see there will come
a fine knight...

in armor that shines
like the sun.

And he will carry the weapons
of strength and righteousness.

And he'll deliver you
from your lying and your evil...

and make this a fit place
for all of you.

The bells stopped for a time.

When the hangman let her down,
nobody moved, shouted, nothing.

Don't see many
fine knights these days.

Maybe she meant you.

Madness.

- Will you get me some silk?
- What?

From Paris.
I've never had silk.

Will you?

Madness.

Oh, no!

You can't stay here, please.

No.

I want you to go.

- Until you say yes.
- Maitre?

Yes? No!
I thought you couldn't speak...

- Maitre, I can't find them.
- Wh-What?

The Lamartin papers.
Maitre?

Leave them 'til the morning.

"Leave them
'til the morning."

I don't want you to do this.

I think you do.

You'd sell yourself for a pig?

The pig is everything we have...

All our money, and in winter
our food 'til the spring.

- If they kill the pig, we have nothing.
- You can work to buy another one.

Half a year.

No.

You make me feel bad, Maitre.

It's my fault, I think.

But still, you make me feel bad.

Now he gets warm.

What is he?

I'll think about the, pig.

- My God! Why didn't you?
- I...

Don't they say the devil's
in black people?

Well, yes...
and in cats and rats...

and the owl that sits on the roof, and
the black dog that crosses your path.

But that's for
the peasants, my son.

- How does a priest get women?
- Fear of eternal damnation.

Some priests sell absolution
for money...

but when it's one of these sweet,
young goodwives come to confession...

You don't!

- You threaten them to get them into bed?
- They know it's all a game.

And the threat
absolves them from guilt.

- There must be priests in hell.
- Can't live for 'em.

I think the time might be
better for it, you know:

The pig, getting it done with.

Albertus, is there something
I should know?

This is my lady,
Catherine d'Auferre.

Gerard, my son,
and my daughter Rosaline...

known to the very few
who love her as Filette.

I do hope Maitre the Advocate
will not capture me...

- and put me in a close prison.
- Mademoiselle...

it would be better
to fall captive into your hands...

and I think your prison
would not be so hard.

Respond to the maitre's
pretty speech.

- Do not be too sure, Maitre Comtois... Courtois.
- Courtois.

For indeed, I have recently seen one
I could wish to make a prisoner.

Would you make a cold cell
to keep him?

Not at all. The cell I
would put him in is warm indeed...

- and he could wish never to come out again.
- Filette.

You are too forward,
young woman.

For God's sake! The more speed,
the better at her age.

Ask him.

Oh, my son likes to hunt.
Wants to know if you'd join him.

No.

Excuse me.
I, I don't.

Seigneur, we wish you long life,
and your lady too.

Yes, yes.
Sit down, Poiccard.

That's my wife's astrologer.

She's my sister-in-law,
you know.

My wife. My sister-in-law.

Dispensation from the pope.
Cost me an estate.

Her first husband,
your brother, died?

Yes... sadly.

Do you have a woman, aside from servant
girls and the odd black whore, of course?

Does our little Filette please you?

- Sorry, I wouldn't presume...
- Presume all you like.

You're an educated man.
She's past 20 years old.

She's no title with her,
and I'm losing hope... fast.

I know she brays
like a she-ass...

but she's that good,
sweaty flesh on her.

See the pearls top of the dugs? Always
found that most charming in women.

And that particular sly look
some of them have in the eyes.

Means they're permanently moist
between the hams.

One of my more youthful seneschals.
He's the bursar of my brotherhood.

- Brotherhood?
- Yes.

It's a kind of guild.
Oh!

And she comes with
500 hectares of land...

in addition to the,
territory on view.

There's enough there
for two pigs. Take it.

We'll have our pig.

Please just take it and go.

Run away?

- You are the first man who said no to me.
- I'm sure.

So why are you so generous
now, Maitre, for no return?

- I want to help.
- No, you want rid of us, and you pay for it.

Do you have plans
that our pig will spoil?

I don't know.

I thought you were
the man of conviction.

I don't belong here.

I thought it would be
simple and peaceful...

but it's full of fear,
this place.

Where do your people come from?

Chaldea, Izmir...

Guzrate from the land
of the Indus, and the Nile.

My grandfather was from Tatta.

- I was born on the road.
- Where?

Just outside Perpignan.

The visiting magistrate,
the Maitre Boniface.

In the matter of the State vs. The pig,
first disputation.

Does the animal have counsel?
Good. Pincheon?

Only to say, monseigneur,
that the offense is compounded...

in that having murdered
the child...

the pig ate a portion of its body...
although it was Friday.

- What?
- The consumption of flesh...

on this day being contrary...

to Christian ordinance
of jejunum sextae.

First book of the pandects:

No animal that lacks intelligence,
reasoning, quod sensu caret...

can be said to have
willfully caused injury.

Monseigneur,
justice is like nature...

which, the philosophers affirm,
can do nothing in vain...

Nihil operantur frustra.

Now I ask you, can anything
be more futile than to summons...

a brute beast into this solemn
assembly to sit in judgment upon it?

The criminal charge may only be brought against
one capable of entering into a covenant.

You cannot summons
a six-year-old child, nor a lunatic!

- How can one, then, possibly arraign a dumb animal?
- - Pincheon?

Gentlemen...

murder is murder,
whether it be committed...

by a half-witted man
or a pig of prodigious learning.

The maitre knows there are
precedents for the trial ofbrute beasts:

That some animals
are born with evil within them.

Born criminal.

We say an eye for an eye...

a tooth for a tooth,
stripe for a stripe.

There is a case to answer.

Dico quod sic.

The charge will be prosecuted...

eight days from today.

We're waiting leave
to bury the boy, Maitre.

Being a heathen,
he has to go outside the walls.

You really think a pig killed a
child this big, nine, ten years old?

It has happened, Maitre.
Pigs, dogs, bulls.

It does happen.

You're the apothecary surgeon?

Now look.

The flesh is cut here and here.

Did you ever see wounds like this
caused by an animal?

Wouldn't you say, there's...
not enough tearing.

I-It's too...

It is possible, Maitre.
A beast with sharp teeth.

But then the blood was black.

- When?
- When I first saw the corpse.

- You saw him after he was killed?
- Oh, yes.

He had been dead for many hours.

- So he could have been killed in another place entirely?
- That is possible.

Or the death occurred...
I couldn't say for sure, no.

- I want to call you as a witness.
- That will not be possible.

Like the unfortunate child here,
I was born a Jew.

My testimony cannot be heard
in a Christian court.

They tell me you're being
diligent on the part of the pig.

Should I not be, Seigneur?

I think you are not yet quite at
ease with us. The country gossip is it?

No!

I know the peasants like to
talk of dark deeds in high places.

But it's not always as it seems.

Now, on the matter of the pig.

It seems of no consequence,
but the boy's death was unnatural.

And a kind of fear
spreads here... easily.

Best if it's done with quickly.

And if the animal's innocent?

I know you've been tumbling
the black woman. Everybody knows.

So, for God's sake, just
let's pay her off quietly and let it go.

I tried that. She asked me what plans
of mine the pig would spoil?

But the matter will be decided before
a judge and jurors, not between us.

I have one other...

ancient right.

Jehan d'Auferre...

seigneur of Abbeville
and Toquin...

will himself preside in the
matter of the State vs. The porker.

Gentlemen.

Monseigneur...

the plaint here before these honorable
and learned gentlemen...

is that on the
third Friday of April...

It fled like a guilty thing.

So, you have a close
acquaintance with porkers?

Tell me, how does a pig look
when she has the air of a guilty thing?

Well, she ran fast!

How fast, this impressively
well-fattened porker?

Did she trot,
canter, gallop, monsieur?

She moved quickly.

For a pig, that is.

And the face is familiar to you...

out of the hundreds of pigs
running loose in this province?

There's not many black hogs.
I've never seen one marked like her.

- And you saw her within the precincts of the chapel?
- No, outside.

Outside? How far outside?

She was wandering around
the little square behind the...

So, having broken off
from its gallop or trot...

she began to wander,
this guilty pig.

Gentlemen, this is insane! I ask for a
deposition from the apothecary surgeon...

Denied, Maitre.

You realize that if
you lie here under oath...

you will pay the price
with your immortal soul.

Perhaps his costs on that
have already been met.

- That should be stricken.
- Have you been suborned, you and the others?

Strike that from the record.

Big pig, black hog...

and she was marked on the nether
part of the eye, and she was running...

- Like a guilty thing.
- Like a guilty thing.

They're word perfect, these witnesses.
Speak their lines like born actors.

I don't see what this tells us,
Courtois. That they've been schooled?

- It is possible.
- It doesn't seem much of a point to me. Go on.

Marked on the nether part
of the eye.

Turn away, will you?
Face over there.

Which side?
No, don't turn back.

Left or right?
Which side?

Left.

Looking at the pig,
the patch was on the left?

- Yes.
- Thank you.

Just a minute.
Turn to face me.

Now, I noticed
when you took the oath...

No, better. Face
your good neighbors.

Now raise your left hand.

Thank you.

Now then, since Courtois' examination
has taken the best part of the day...

we'll reconvene
after the Sabbath.

Jesus Maria.

Well, Maitre,
rising up like a cathedral.

You said I'd have a roof by today!
There isn't a wall to put it on.

It's the timber.
It's hard to get the timber.

And with the price of the clay
going up daily...

Hey! Over here.

Must have been nine or ten.

Have children gone missing
here in the last year?

The Levy boy last summer.

AJewish boy?
That age?

Reckon a wolf took him.
Nothing left of him now.

Maitre,
a matter of two hundred sous.

- What?
- For the clay. Maitre!

This has nothing to do
with the present business.

The Levy boy has been missing
for ten months or more.

Exactly. They're both jewish children,
both about the same age.

It is just possible they both died by
the same hand, and the pig is innocent!

- I ask for an adjournment.
- Monseigneur...

the costs to the state
in this case are already prodigious.

- I have things to find out.
- By questioning a little heap of bones?

- No, I don't think so.
- What do we all think this is?

Two children have died here.
What kind of game are we playing?

In that courtroom, you're a judge.
You're sworn to a solemn duty.

And I'm an advocate at law,
and I'm telling you I do have the right.

Seven days.

How long has he been here,
the silent one upstairs?

- Not long.
- But the seigneur's man, is he keeping an eye on all of us?

- How long?
- Maitre, he came only days before we did.

- Five months then, no longer?
- Do we take the land claim, Les Ezies?

Any other strangers in town?
What about the players? Oh, no.

Directly from the presses,
monseigneur.

The torture of Jeannine the Witch
and her death agony on the scaffold.

- Leave us.
- Many others of fair ladies under duress.

Both Jewish children,
both around the same age.

Persecution of theJews of Mainz
by the Christian Brothers.

Persecution of the Christians of Mainz
by the Jews thereof.

Go away!

"The murder of
a young Jewish child...

by one of the dia..."

"Diabolical Flemish brotherhoods
in the godless city of Den Haag."

D'Auferre has a brotherhood.

Yes. Why should a lord
run a guild?

What do they do there?

It's all riddles,
play little boys' games.

Think of the old orders,
the most secret ones:

The Cathars and the Templars.

They taught us in school
that the king of France...

burnt every last heretic
three generations ago.

But what if some madmen keep the faith?
Bring them back to life a hundred years on?

It's a Cathar family.

D'Auferre.
They were Cathars.

- How did you know that?
- It's my job, Maitre. I'm your clerk.

Find out when they meet.

Which would you prefer, Richard...

A wife who was true
and virtuous...

though your neighbors
called her a false woman:

Or a wife whom you knew
to be false...

though she seemed virtuous
to all the world?

Sorry.
A wife?

That's the way, Courtois.

What?

Not here.

Oh, shit.

You seem well at home now,
Maitre.

Wood, wode...

vermilion, madder...

wool combs, teasels.

We can't ask more from the town.
They've done enough.

Two livres, dozen bolts.

Too much! Who are they?
The merchants from Saxony.

- Half a livre. How much is our own?
- Half.

Half that or they can take it to Paris.

No, I don't like that.
I won't have it.

Grease, soap, muslin.

- Do we go with Aquitaine with the taxes?
- The corn tithes set the same?

- No, we have an agreement. I won't go back on that.
- They can force us.

- They've no control over us.
- I don't care who they are.

Do we agree to stay as we are?

Excuse me, I...

- I think you're lost, Maitre.
- Lost?

Are you not?

There's the door.

What did you hear?

Very little.
Are you a Cathar?

My grandfather was one of the last.
Had his legs burnt off by King Philip.

- What little did you hear?
- About prices. The price of linen.

Something about
the annual tithe.

- Is that it, the brotherhood?
- What did you expect?

Drinking the blood of virgins?

Good God, look at them. They've all
one leg in the grave already.

It's how we keep control...
order and rule.

We fix tithes and prices
for the whole province.

Stop the foreign merchants underselling.
You look terrible.

A little fever.

Mind you, you can have your tongue
cut out if you think to tell the tale.

We shouldn't meet now
until it's over.

- What have we done?
- It's not what we've done. It's what they think we've done.

Look I have to... I want you!

- I can't think of anything else.
- Not now. I said it.

What are you doing to me?
You disturb me. I...

All of it! I wanted to make it
work here, and it's falling apart.

All of it!

What do you want from me?

Well now, the maitre
been dipping his fingers...

in his Little Egyptian
casserole, has he?

Sweet, but stinking, is it,
the little black crack on her?

Tooth for tooth, Maitre.
Stripe for stripe.

I see a dark shadow
behind you, my son.

It seems to take the form
of a great black goat.

Can it be your
little master Satan?

- Go about your business, Domini.
- This is my business, Sheriff.

Should the priest of this parish not witness to
the Holy Fathers what he sees with his own eyes?

You see, it works.

Stay with me tonight.

When you asked me
if I lied to you...

Just tonight.

Stay in me.

"Thou art black but comely,
my sister, my wife:

Thou hast..."

So, Domini, an animal has no soul
and cannot therefore be excommunicated.

No. It may be anathematized.
It's a fine distinction.

I believe clerics are undecided
as to whether a woman has a soul.

Rather elderly clerics,
I think, Maitre.

The child was Jewish,
was he not?

Is the crime of the beast
less than if he had been a Christian?

I can't say!

A Jew may be below the Christian
in divine order...

but he's certainly above
the goat and the ass.

On a level, perhaps,
with the dog?

Well, it is only 30 years
since a citizen of Paris...

was burnt for sodomy because
he cohabited with a Jewess.

It was thought to be
on a level...

of copulation with a dog.

Interesting, Domini.

So a man known to have lain with a heathen
woman might forfeit his life for it.

But not today,
I would hope, monseigneur.

Well... are you finished,
Maitre?

Are you telling us, Domini,
that in your theology...

it is futile to
anathematize or execute...

an insentient beast?

N-No, no.

The beast may contain a devil, and it's the
devil we curse and the vessel we destroy.

A devil in the pig? A devil
in the cat that steals the fish?

In the locust that
destroys the harvest?

Is the locust big enough
to contain a devil, Domini? A fly?

Interesting point about the fly.

It was debated for three days at a convocation
in Rheims, and no conclusion reached.

You don't really believe everything
you've been saying in here, do you?

This is monstrous!

Do you, Domini?

Oh, I believe it, Maitre.

Every word of it.

Gentlemen...

any man's death is
terrible, inexplicable.

The death of a child...

even a Hebrew child...

Maitre, more so.

It causes us to question
the natural law...

to ponder in our anguish
the purposes of God himself.

Where is order...
and rule?

And what do we do when faced...

with the unknown
and the unknowable?

We give ourselves up to fear!

Every day, every one of us...

awaits in terror...

some new chaos,
some new darkness.

It is the curse of our times...

gentlemen.

Not the black death...

but fear...
so much the blacker.

And what,
aside from our prayers...

can help us to bear this burden?

I would say to you...

the law!

The law is not only
punishment and retribution.

The law can purge the deed, put an end
to the chapter, close the book!

When we see justice done...

we go back to our daily lives...

knowing at least that the
next time the fears come...

they will be subject...

to the same immutable process.

A child is dead.

Killing the pig
won't bring it back.

But it will,
for the rest of us say:

It is done this time,
and properly done.

For now...

the circle is full again.

Complete.

Maitre Courtois?

We wave our replication,
ask for the court's mercy.

Then I believe
we may proceed to judgment.

- The bells.
- What bells?

The festival of the Advent
has begun.

Judgment after the first
week is out.

Jesus Maria.

Well, you were born
to preach Armageddon.

I'd swear you
almost believed it.

Oh, I believe it...

or I wouldn't prosecute.

Do you want to know
your future, Courtois?

Look at me.

I am what will become
of Maitre Courtois...

the country lawyer, in 20 years.

Well... 30 years.

You'll do well here.

You learn fast and...
you're good.

But it's pearls
to swine, you know.

That's what they are,
these poor country folk.

Suspicious,
superstitious, selfish...

lubricous, salt of the earth...

scum of the earth.

Go back to the city
where you belong.

Don't grow old and tired
in a place like this.

- You'll never go back?
- No.

They make a lot of money
now in Paris...

but somehow I don't think
they love the law.

I think you do.

Once perhaps.

But now...

I can't remember now.

Pincheon...

there were things behind
all this neither of us knew.

No...

Maitre.

This is the real inferno
ofJehan d'Auferre.

A few hectares of goose-bumped flesh,
illustrating...

the absolute corruption
of power.

- Disappointing, I know.
- Is it true what they say about your hunt?

- My...
- The chase.

They say you use human
quarry for the chase.

Oh! I did once, yes.
Made quite a scandal.

- To the death?
- Good God, no. I'm not a barbarian. No!

There were a few bumps and bruises,
but they were well paid for it.

- Did you remember the silk, Maitre?
- What? Maria!

Silk from Paris!

No.

- Oh, well. Maybe soon.
- Yes.

Look at them.

The forbidden fruits,
they think all this is.

But you and I know, Courtois...

that the only entertainment
worth the coin...

is offered by the
true object of desire.

Don't worry. She's here willingly.
I told you I pay well.

Samira!

Well now, what can we do?

- The boy insulted her.
- A hazard of her profession, I'd have thought.

She didn't know who he was.
Let her go, please.

What was that, Courtois?
I don't think we heard you.

We were talking about the future.
There's still time to settle things.

You wouldn't be expected to give up all your
little weaknesses, just be circumspect about them.

And of course, you'd understand
where your loyalties lie.

Divine animal, a little wild.
I can see the temptation.

Let her go...
in the morning.

The guard can make use of her
'til then... if they're not too drunk.

What did you say in there?
The curse?

It's... what you call it?
For children?

- Nursery rhyme?
- It's the way you say it.

Come and drink with me, monsieur.

Here's to the eyes and ears
ofJehan d'Auferre.

You can tell him he's won.
You've all won.

Tell him the advocate
is going back to the big city.

But I think all you
good Christians look on...

while the devil walks about
and about in your neat little town.

And there's not one of you
dares speak.

You've seen everything here,
Monseigneur Creeper In The Dark.

Have you seen one man
without fear?

You're a melancholy fellow,
Mathieu.

It's our last night. Shine yourself up
and we'll go to a brothel.

A brothel.

There won't be one in this piss-ass town,
but there'll be one in Laviers.

Maitre, this is the brothel.

The Abbeville Inn
is the Abbeville whorehouse.

You mean that skinny girl?
You pay her for it?

- I never gave Maria a sou.
- It's all in the price we pay by the week.

They put it down
as the lodging tax.

You see, Maitre,
the mind has a little eye.

It shows us in our dreams what we've
looked on when we're awake, but not seen.

There is darkness all about you.
You can bring the light.

- Look to the boy, Maitre.
- Do not be too sure, Maitre Courtois.

For indeed I have recently seen
one I could wish to make a prisoner.

It seems of no consequence,
but the boy's death was unnatural.

And a kind of fear
spreads here... easily.

Best if it's done with quickly.

And if the animal's innocent?

It may be the pig contains a devil.
Opinions differ.

I remember once in Joinville...

Why did I see that face?

Here! Here! Help me!

Here!
Hey! Hey!

Here!

Hey, hey, hey!

Good night.

Help!

Help! No!
Help me!

- Hey!
- No! No!

Hey!

- Who was it? Did you see his face?
- No.

Did anybody see?

Who are you?

I am all eyes and all ears,
but not forJehan d'Auferre.

Who then?

You said it yourself, my friend.

I am the one
who has no need for fear.

He tried to take another boy.

NotJewish this time.
None left.

- They told me it would be stopped!
- Did they?

Well, it won't stop, not while a
priest perjures his immortal soul...

to protect a monster...

to keep his comfortable living
and all his little amusements.

You're funny, Domini...

with your "new knowledge
we wise men keep to ourselves,"

and your special kind of shriving
from the ladies.

It was only a game, I told you.

With every one of them?

Or were there two or three who
were afraid you just might mean it?

- Look to the boy.
- What?

You said the witch said,
"look to the boy." So, did you?

Yes. I found a little heap of bones
and another good citizen too scared to...

Wrong...

Wrong boy.

Your son killed that child,
monseigneur.

You'll deny it, and I'll prove it
if it takes 20 years of my life.

I won't deny it.
I don't know it, but it is possible.

He has the devil in him,
certainly.

And he did injure a child once
in one of his private little games.

I had a priest in Joinville exorcise
him. We spend our summers there.

It worked for a time,
then we found him nailing dogs to trees.

Three of them crucified,
the middle one above the others naturally.

They'd have burned him
if they'd seen it.

And the other child,
the one who died before?

Yes, that one as well perhaps.

He's my bane, Courtois,
always has been.

- But this kind of thing...
- We can't allow to get out.

One law for the rich...

Yes!
Always.

Seigneur, I will have your son arrested
on my account and with my authority.

And I will have a new trial
under a new judge.

And whether or not it brings down
Armageddon on our heads...

I'll have the boy in that courtroom,
and I can get to the truth.

You may not think it,
but I'm lawyer enough for that.

I don't doubt it, but
I'm afraid it won't be possible.

You see, my son left France
this morning for England, in fact.

They have Mussulman surgeons
there, and he may be helped.

I think without an accused in human form,
your story will lose something in the telling.

Let it be, Courtois.

I give judgment tomorrow, and we'll let
the Egyptians go in peace when it's done.

It's only a pig.

No, no. Not that pig.
Not now.

We can stop the coach
from Angers, Maitre.

Find me the villain with the wife,
Valliere, the one who killed the man.

Find him, bring him here.

You have had your time, Maitre.

We must go tojudgment.

- I ask the court's indulgence a little longer.
- No, that's it.

You'll note, monseigneur,
that the two pigs are identical.

The one could easily
be mistaken for the other.

They're black hogs,
patch under the eye.

This man will swear that his pig has
already eaten two of its own litters...

killed a newborn calf in front if its
mother, and attacked a baby in the cot.

Is this not, monseigneur,
a malicious and criminal beast?

And it was untethered and went missing
on the day the child died.

And when it returned,
it had blood on its mouth.

This good citizen
will testify to all of this.

And is this good citizen aware of
the penalties for bearing false witness?

As we all are, monseigneur,
in this court...

even up to my lord the judge.

Pincheon?

I'm not happy to say this,
but the law demands a retrial.

All this again?

All of it, monseigneur,
with the pig kept in prison...

at the state's expense until
a new advocate arrives as his counsel.

- I won't be here.
- No, no, this is impossible.

We've only the fellow's
word for it.

It's not as if the pig
had confessed!

Would you like me
to put it to him?

As advocate for
the first porker...

should I not try to get
this one to take the blame?

You, pig, if you have a devil in you,
if you and your devil avow...

- that you are guilty of this unnatural murder...
- Seigneur?

Courtois, this is a matter
of some gravity.

If you confess to this you will give
voice in this courtroom, twice to be sure.

If you are not guilty,
you may keep your silence.

If you do speak, speak clearly
so the whole court may hear you.

In the case of a full and open confession,
it is my judgment...

that the first accused pig is not
culpable of the charge against it.

This animal leaves the court
with no stain on her character.

As to the second pig:

"In detestation and horror
at its unnatural crime...

"this porker will be detained until such
time as our sentence can be carried out:

"The which is that it be
hanged and strangled upon a gibbet...

in a public place
until it be dead."

We'll go somewhere else.
I'll keep you in the country.

And one day you come home,
and your house is burned down...

and your black witch wife
inside it.

Pig flesh, roasted.

I think I'm a little bit
animal to you:

Not brute beast
like they think...

but yes...

some strange fine creature you'd
like at your fireplace and in your bed.

Go away from here.

Do your job.
Make money.

Marry the fine lady.

Have pretty children,
all shining and white.

I love you.

I could love you.

But I couldn't sing your songs,
only my own...

Lost songs from
a long time ago...

but they are mine.

A part of you stays here.

A part of me goes with you.

Who was that man who sat here?

Calls himself Fournier.

He comes here
every second year...

and the Holy Fathers arrive
soon after him.

He's a spy for the Inquisition.

He doesn't know we know.

We'll get to Paris by nightfall?

You will, Maitre.

I'm staying in Abbeville.

Maitre Pincheon
has given me a position.

Now if you recall the prophesy
of Jeannine the Witch...

she said these were bad times,
and there'd be more.

Then there'd come a fine knight
in armor that shone like the sun.

And he'd carry the weapons
of strength and righteousness.

And deliver us from our evil
and our lies...

and make this a fit place
for all of us.

Shall we reach Paris
before dark?

Yes.

I'm taking my goddaughter
to live there in Saint-Denis.

We'll be neighbors then.

I'm a lawyer.

I had a position in Abbeville
for some time, but...

really the city's
the only place to...

make a living.