because of her other love affairs to later incriminate her with the purpose of obtaining her death sentence and her subsequent execution in revenge for the death of her father, whose murders she also approved. 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. 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. 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. She also finds out through a detective friend, Tony Canfield, that she is being investigated.
She is aware that the accused is innocent, because many unclear and found evidence points to her.
After that, she is involved in the trial for that murder that has been entrusted to her. A short time later a friend of his with a reputation as an adventurer, Charles Mayron, is murdered and the boy disappears. One day she meets a young unknown boy in a library who seduces her and with whom she later has an affair. The judge Warwick has a marriage is foundering. 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. 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. 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. Lawyers, particularly women, might find offensive an erotic scene under the table in Gwen’s office, 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 story’s characters.īedelia gives a dominating performance, but the woman she plays is too intelligent and too bright to behave in such 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 fine-tuned dialogue and unanticipated revelations, but Bindley’s writing, specifically in the court sequences, is borderline banal and the disclosures made not 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 and planted case, resulting 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 his murder case. Seemingly curious and sexually unfulfilled, one night she follows Martin (Billy Wirth), a sexy law clerk, into his office and a steamy affair evolves, though she knows nothing about him.
Gwen Warwick (Bedelia) is a stern, accomplished criminal court judge, soon to be appointed to the Michigan State Supreme Court. As such, it’s best suited to the tube with good prospects on video. Its star, the graceful Bonnie Bedelia, does an honorable job, but the film’s “B” plot and its lack of sustained suspense make it just another generic item. Judicial Consent aspires to belong to the league of suspense thrillers about female lawyers, like Jagged Edge with Glenn Close or Cher’s vehicle, Suspect.