The Hour of the Pig

In 15th-century France, animals were actually subject to criminal trials under both civil and ecclesiastical law. The film is based on the real historical figure Bartholomew Chassenee, who famously defended animals in court. The pig is accused of killing a young Jewish boy, and the trial follows the same legal procedures as human cases, reflecting how medieval society applied formal justice to all creatures.

The film's opening establishes that animal trials are a serious matter in this society, setting up the central case.

Samira and her brother Mahmoud own the accused pig, which is their primary food source as winter approaches. Desperate to save their only means of survival, Samira visits Courtois at night and offers herself in exchange for his legal help. It's a combination of desperation, cultural differences in how women could negotiate, and her recognition that Courtois holds her family's fate in his hands.

Jeannine tells Courtois there is darkness around him and urges him to 'look to the boy' before her execution. This foreshadows two events: the discovery of another missing Jewish boy's skeleton, confirming a human serial killer is at large, and the arrival of a knight at the film's end who reveals the Black Death is approaching. Both prophecies connect to the theme that the true dangers in Abbeville are human evil and plague, not witchcraft or animal malevolence.

Jeannine's execution scene directly sets up the later revelations about the serial killer and the plague.

Courtois discovers the pig has been framed when another skeleton is found during construction of his house. He confronts the Seigneur d'Auferre, accusing his son of the murders. The Seigneur doesn't deny it but reveals his son has fled to England for 'treatment,' escaping justice. The film implies the son's actions were motivated by the same anti-Semitic prejudice that led to the pig's indictment in the first place.

The discovery of the second skeleton during construction is the turning point where Courtois realizes a human killer is at work.

At the trial, a farmer named Valliere (whom Courtois had defended in an earlier case) arrives with a replica pig. He testifies that the original pig couldn't have committed the crime because it was actually in his possession at the time of the killing, his pig had wandered off. This reasonable doubt leads to the pig's acquittal, though it raises questions about whether justice was truly served or if the case was simply too absurd to sustain.

As Courtois prepares to leave Abbeville, a knight arrives, just as Jeannine foretold. When the knight removes his armor, he reveals the buboes (swollen lymph nodes) characteristic of the Black Death. This ominous ending suggests that while the pig case is resolved, a far greater catastrophe looms. The plague serves as a metaphor for the true nature of this society: one built on superstition, prejudice, and violence that will ultimately consume itself.

Jeannine's prophecy specifically mentioned a knight would come to deliver them from deceit, though the deception continues in the form of the escaped killer and the approaching plague.

Seigneur Jehan d'Auferre is the powerful local lord who manipulates events from behind the scenes. He attempts to bribe Courtois and uses marriage to his daughter Filette as a bargaining chip. His son is revealed to be the actual serial killer targeting Jewish boys, but the Seigneur protects him by sending him to England. The pig case is merely a pawn in his larger political game of maintaining power and covering up his family's crimes.

Courtois initially refuses the case, but he's drawn into it by the social dynamics at play, the Moors are outsiders being blamed for a crime that likely has a human culprit. As an idealistic lawyer who left Paris seeking a quieter practice, he finds the case challenges his principles. The political pressure from the Seigneur, combined with his growing understanding that prejudice is driving the prosecution, ultimately compels him to take action.

The title refers both to the literal animal trial at the film's center and to the medieval concept of the 'hour of the pig', the time when animals could be held accountable in court. More symbolically, it represents a moment in history when superstition and prejudice dominated justice, and when the most vulnerable (animals, minorities, outsiders) could be blamed for society's problems. The title captures the film's theme of a justice system run amok.

In Jeannine's witchcraft trial, Courtois argues she cannot be guilty of bribing rats to poison her neighbor because she didn't pay them, which he proves by requesting the rats testify. When the rats fail to appear, the charge is dismissed under Roman law. However, the local authorities simply condemn her under local custom instead, demonstrating how the system finds ways to achieve predetermined outcomes regardless of legal technicalities.

Pincheon reveals he moved from Paris to Ponthieu seeking the prominence he couldn't achieve in the capital. He tells Courtois that village life would allow him to 'shine' in ways Paris never did. His jealousy and劝告 that Courtois return to Paris stem from his own failed ambitions, he sees Courtois's growing reputation as a threat to the standing Pincheon has built in the provinces.

During the Advent festival, Courtois saves a boy from a masked horseman wielding an axe. This violent incident confirms that danger in Abbeville isn't limited to the courtroom, there's an actual threat roaming the streets. The attack reinforces Courtois's suspicion that a human killer is responsible for the crimes, not the pig, and demonstrates the pervasive violence lurking beneath the town's surface.