Patton, who is usually brilliant in small offbeat roles, is miscast here in the underwritten role of the bland husband we never get a sense of the kind of marriage the Warwicks have. As Martin, gifted character actor Coleman is wasted in an unrewarding role, while Wirth mostly acts on his handsome looks as the stranger with a “mysterious” motive. Judicial Consent is too obvious and too conscious of its genre.Judicial Secret (original title: Judicial Consent ) is a 1994 thriller directed by William Bindley and starring Bonnie Bedelia in the title role. The judge Warwick has a marriage is foundering. One day she meets a young unknown boy in a library who seduces her and with whom she later has an affair. A short time later a friend of his with a reputation as an adventurer, Charles Mayron, is murdered and the boy disappears.
Bonnie bedelia in judicial consent trial#Īfter that, she is involved in the trial for that murder that has been entrusted to her. She is aware that the accused is innocent, because many unclear and found evidence points to her. She also finds out through a detective friend, Tony Canfield, that she is being investigated. Warwick begins to suspect that this boy has to do with the murder and begins to investigate him knowing that it is only a matter of time before they arrest her for a murder that he did not commit. Finally she discovers by a mistake that she committed that the boy's name is Martin and that he is the son of a man whom she sentenced to death and who was executed for the murder of his ex-wife, who he killed for being in his opinion a whore, and her new husband for being with her.
He also realizes that he was able to find out about Charles Mayron's fame for being an adventurer with women and from rumors that she was also having an affair with him, that he murdered his friend and made it seem as if he had done it out of sexual jealousy.
Movies that know how to mix the dangerous and the erotic often make edgy, highly diverting thrillers, but “Judicial Consent” is too obvious and too conscious of its form. As Martin, gifted character actor Coleman is wasted in an unrewarding role, while Wirth is there mostly to look good as the stranger with a “mysterious” motive. Will Patton, usually brilliant in small, offbeat roles, is miscast here in the underwritten role of Gwen’s bland husband we never get a sense of the kind of marriage the Warwicks have. For instance, lawyers, particularly women, might find offensive a sex scene in Gwen’s office in which she’s shown reaching orgasm while negotiating an important assignment on the telephone. Dark lofts, swinging doors, empty parking lots and so on are all nicely handled, but they’re also familiar to an audience that always seems to be ahead of the pic’s characters.īedelia gives a charming, dominating performance, but the woman she plays is too intelligent and too bright to behave in such a senseless manner. Though a first-time helmer, Bindley gives his picture a smooth and polished look, displaying some mastery over the genre’s tricks - and visual cliches.
The courtroom format relies heavily on finely tuned dialogue and unanticipated revelations, but Bindley’s writing, specifically in the court sequences, is borderline banal and the disclosures aren’t particularly suspenseful. Realizing she’s been set up, Gwen begins a desperate race against time to prove her innocence. Soon, what seemed “circumstantial” evidence turns out to be a well-planned murder, with Gwen as the prime suspect. When Gwen’s roguish colleague, Charles Matron (Dabney Coleman), “a chronic flirt,” is found dead in his office, she’s asked to preside over the case.