The Devil's Advocate !
The Devil's Advocate (1997 film)
| The Devil's Advocate | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Taylor Hackford |
| Produced by |
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| Screenplay by | Jonathan Lemkin Tony Gilroy |
| Based on | The Devil's Advocate by Andrew Neiderman |
| Starring | |
| Music by | James Newton Howard |
| Cinematography | Andrzej Bartkowiak |
| Edited by | Mark Warner |
Production
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| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date
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Running time
| 144 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $57 million[2] |
| Box office | $153 million[3] |
The Devil's Advocate (marketed as Devil's Advocate) is a 1997 American supernatural horror film directed by Taylor Hackford, written by Jonathan Lemkin and Tony Gilroy, and starring Keanu Reeves, Al Pacino, and Charlize Theron. Based on Andrew Neiderman's novel of the same name, it is about an unusually successful young Floridian lawyer (Reeves) invited to New York City to work for a major firm. As his wife (Theron) becomes haunted by frightening visual phenomena, the lawyer slowly begins to realize the owner of the firm (Pacino) is not what he appears to be, and is in fact the Devil.
Pacino's character, Satan, takes the guise of a human lawyer named after the author of Paradise Lost, John Milton. The story and direction contain allusions to Milton's epic, Dante Alighieri's Inferno, and the legend of Faust. An adaptation of Neiderman's novel went into a development hell during the 1990s, with Hackford gaining control of the production. Filming took place around New York City and Florida.
The Devil's Advocate premiered to mixed reviews, with critics crediting it for entertainment value and Pacino's performance. It made over $152 million in the box office and won the Saturn Award for Best Horror Film. It also became the subject of the copyright lawsuit Hart v. Warner Bros., Inc. for its visual art.
Contents
Plot[edit]
Kevin Lomax, a defense attorney from Gainesville, Florida, has never lost a case. As he defends a schoolteacher, Lloyd Gettys, against a charge of child molestation, Kevin belatedly realizes his client is guilty and local reporter Larry warns him a guilty verdict is inevitable. However, through a harsh cross-examination, Kevin destroys the victim's credibility, securing a "not guilty" verdict.
Subsequently, a representative of a New York City law firm offers Kevin a large sum of money to assist a jury selection. After the jury delivers a not guilty verdict, the head of the firm, John Milton, offers Kevin a large salary and an upscale apartment if he joins the firm. Kevin accepts the job, and he and his wife Mary Ann move to Manhattan. He is soon spending most of his time at work, leaving Mary Ann feeling isolated. Kevin's fundamentalist mother, Alice, visits New York City and suggests they both return home, but Kevin refuses.
When billionaire Alex Cullen is accused of murdering his wife, his stepson, and a maid, Milton assigns the high-profile case to Kevin. This demands more of Kevin's time, further separating him from Mary Ann, and he begins to fantasize about his co-worker, Christabella. Mary Ann begins seeing visions of the partners' wives becoming demonic, and has a nightmare about a baby playing with her removed ovaries. After a doctor declares her infertile, she begs Kevin to return to Gainesville, of which he disapproves. Milton suggests Kevin step down from the trial to tend to his wife, but Kevin claims that if he steps down and she recovers, he may resent her for costing him the case.
Eddie Barzoon, the firm's managing partner, is convinced that Kevin is competing for his job when he discovers Kevin's name is on the firm's charter. Surprised, Kevin denies any knowledge of this and Eddie threatens to inform the United States Attorney's office of the law firm's activities. Kevin tells Milton about Eddie's threats, but Milton dismisses them; Eddie is then beaten to death by vagrants with demonic appearances. Mary Ann witnesses this, disturbing her further.
While preparing Melissa Black, Cullen's secretary, to testify about Cullen's alibi, Kevin realizes she is lying and tells Milton he believes Cullen is guilty. Despite this, Kevin proceeds with her testimony and the trial. Afterwards, Kevin finds Mary Ann in a nearby church covered with a blanket. She claims Milton raped and brutalized her, but Kevin believes this cannot be true as he was with Milton in court. Mary Ann drops her blanket, revealing her naked body covered with cuts; Kevin assumes Mary Ann injured herself and commits her to a mental institution.
Alice, along with Kevin and Pam Garrety, Kevin's case manager from the firm, visit Mary Ann at the institution. After seeing Pam as a demon, Mary Ann hits her with a hand mirror and barricades the room. As Kevin breaks down the door, Mary Ann commits suicide by cutting her throat with a shard of glass. Alice reveals that Milton is Kevin's father; Kevin leaves the hospital to confront Milton, who admits to raping Mary Ann. Kevin fires a pistol into Milton's chest, but the bullets are ineffective. Milton reveals himself as Satan and Kevin blames him for everything that happened; Milton explains that he merely "set the stage" and that Kevin could have left at any time. Kevin realizes he always wanted to win, no matter the cost. Milton tells Kevin that he wants Kevin and Christabella, Kevin's half-sister, to conceive a child, the Antichrist. Kevin appears to acquiesce at first, but then abruptly cites free will and shoots himself in the head.
Kevin finds himself back at the recess of the Gettys trial. Choosing to do the right thing, Kevin announces that he cannot represent his client despite the threat of disbarment. Larry pleads for an interview, promising to make Kevin a celebrity. Encouraged by Mary Ann, Kevin agrees; after they leave, Larry transforms into Milton, relishing the sin of vanity.
Cast[edit]
- Keanu Reeves as Kevin Lomax
- Al Pacino as John Milton/Satan
- Charlize Theron as Mary Ann Lomax
- Jeffrey Jones as Eddie Barzoon
- Judith Ivey as Alice Lomax
- Connie Nielsen as Christabella Andreoli
- Craig T. Nelson as Alexander Cullen
- Heather Matarazzo as Barbara
- Tamara Tunie as Jackie Heath
- Ruben Santiago-Hudson as Leamon Heath
- Debra Monk as Pam Garrety
- Vyto Ruginis as Mitch Weaver, Justice Dept.
- Laura Harrington as Melissa Black
- Pamela Gray as Diana Barzoon
- George Wyner as Meisel
- Neal Jones as Larry, a Florida Reporter
- Don King as himself[4]
- Roy Jones, Jr as himself (uncredited)[5]
- Delroy Lindo as Phillipe Moyez (uncredited)[6]
- Chris Bauer as Lloyd Gettys
- Senator Al D'Amato as himself [4]
Themes and interpretations[edit]
The Devil character's name is a direct homage to John Milton, who wrote Paradise Lost,[7] quoted by Lomax with the line "Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heav'n".[8] Despite this, the thrust of Milton's epic was to rebuke the devil.[9] As a rebel against God, complaining of being perpetually "underestimated", the Milton character, like Paradise Lost's Satan, is "Heav'n running from Heav'n" with a "sense of injur'd merit".[10]
Professor Eric C. Brown judges the climax, in which Milton attempts to persuade Lomax to have sex with his half-sister to conceive the Antichrist, to be the most "Miltonic", as the sculptures become animated in carnal activities evoking Paradise Lost's "Downfall of the Rebel Angels".[8] The tirade Milton gives in this sequence is at times also reminiscent of Satan's lines in Paradise Lost Books I and II.[11] In U.S. literary education, Milton's temptation of Lomax in the climax, in which he rationalizes rebellion against God for a "Look, but don't touch" model, has been compared to Satan urging Eve to eat forbidden fruit in Paradise Lost, Book IX, lines 720–730:[12]
In his DVD commentary, Taylor Hackford did not name Paradise Lost as an inspiration, instead citing the legend of Faust.[13] An underlying concept of the story is a "Faustian bargain", offered to a character with free will.[14] Philosopher Peter van Inwagen writes Milton referring to free will as a "bitch", when Lomax contemplates selling his soul, moves away from a legalistic definition of "free will" as "uncoerced", into the philosophical realm of its definition.[15]
As with Goethe's Faust, the Devil commonly depicted in cinema is associated with lust and temptation.[16] Milton shows Lomax many seductive women, in order to induce his "fall". Sex or rape is usually also the means by which Satan creates the Antichrist, as in Roman Polanski's 1968 film Rosemary's Baby. In The Devil's Advocate, someone other than Satan will have sex to conceive the Antichrist, though Milton nevertheless brutally rapes Mary Ann.[16] Incest becomes a way of creating the Antichrist, since the offspring of Satan's son and daughter will inherit much of Satan's genetic makeup.[7]
Dante Alighieri's Inferno raised "visual potential" that informed the film.[17] Dantean scholar Amilcare A. Iannucci argues the plot follows the Divine Comedy model in beginning with selva oscura, in Lomax losing his conscience defending a guilty man, and then entering and exploring deeper circles of Hell.[18] Iannucci compares the office building structure to the circles, listing fireplaces where flames are always present; demonic visual phenomena; and water outside Milton's office, analogized to Dante's Satan's icy home, albeit situated at the top of Hell as opposed to the bottom.[19] Free will is also a major theme in the Divine Comedy, with the film's musings on the concept being similar to Dante's Purgatorio, 16.82–83 ("if the present world has gone astray, in you is the cause, in you it's to be sought").[20]
Other religious references are present. In describing New York City as Babylon, Alice Lomax invokes Revelation 18:[21]
Milton tempting Lomax is possibly also inspired by the Biblical Temptation of Christ.[7] Aside from Milton, other character names have been commented on: Author Kelly J. Wyman matches Mary Ann, the virginal figure who falls victim to Milton, to the Virgin Mary, and adds the literal translation of Christabella is "Beautiful Christ",[22] and that the title refers to the Catholic Church's Devil's advocates and lawyers as advocates;[23] Eric C. Brown finds Barzoon's name and character to be reminiscent of the demon prince Beelzebub.[8] Scholars Miguel A. De La Torre and Albert Hernández observe the vision of Satan as CEO, wearing expensive clothing and engaging in business, had appeared in popular culture before, including the 1942 novel The Screwtape Letters.[24]
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