A new defense attorney is on the case in Pauline’s Law, the latest story in one of France’s most popular drama series.
Similar to the previous titles in the La loi de… series — Barbara’s Law, Alexandre’s Law, Simon’s Law, and Christophe’s Law (more about them here) — Pauline’s Law (La loi de Pauline) stars another award-winning French actor.
She is César Awards winner Zabou Breitman (Se souvenir des belles choses, L’exercice de l’État), who plays newbie defense attorney Pauline Azan in the episode “Bad News” (“Mauvaise Graine”).
Following her separation from her husband, Pauline returned to the legal career she’d always wanted but hadn’t pursued after marriage and motherhood, and now she’s a newbie defense attorney working for Lorrenzi (Olivier Saladin, Boulevard du Palais), one of the most disparaging bosses a person could have.
Truth be told, she isn’t very good at practicing law, having lost five out of five cases that should have been won before she even walked into the courtroom. (You’d think Lorrenzi would have fired her by now.)
Be that as it may, and despite her lack of experience in criminal cases, the court appoints Pauline as the public defender for Alain Bezard (Biarritz Festival award winner Serge Riaboukine, Capone, The Passenger), a farmer accused deliberately setting fire to his brother Paul’s (Laurent Schilling, La Vie en Rose) barn and stable in St Jean-sur-le-Nay.
Being accused of arson is bad enough, but things get worse for Alain when he is later charged with Paul’s murder. And when another dead body is found on Alain’s property, he’s looking at serious jail time for double homicide.
It certainly doesn’t help Alain’s case when jurors learn that he hasn’t been completely forthcoming or truthful about what he did when and with whom. Ditto when a strategy undertaken by the inexperienced Pauline will ultimately lead to Alain looking even guiltier.
Meanwhile, Pauline’s soon-to-be ex-husband, Jacques (Laurent Natrella, Chez Maupassant), is jealous as all get-out and demands that she tell him what man took her away from him. That’s not how things actually went down, but she does have a no-tell lover now in Christophe (Pierre Cassignard, Blood of the Vine), a former banker-turned-farmer and a neighbor of the Bezards.
Back in the courtroom, witnesses for the prosecution — including Alain’s wife, Catherine (César Awards winner Marilyne Canto, Fais de beaux rêves), and sister Françoise (Fabienne Périneau, La cour des grande) — create quite the ugly picture of the accused.
But a childhood friend of Alain tells a different story about him, and Pauline starts putting two and two together, before she unwittingly puts her life in danger…
Penned by the writing duo of Celine and Martin Guyot (Commissaire Magellan) and directed by Philippe Venault (Nestor Burma), Pauline’s Law is now available in the US on Eurochannel and Amazon Video.
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