«Dog»: the passivity of understanding

Cinema Wednesdays - Hélène Lavoyer

«We have a character who is devoid of cynicism and has no ambition. But who's going to try to live anyway.» (Samuel Benchetrit)

Jacques (Vincent Macaigne) is a dog. As such, he observes people. Helps them, from time to time. Jacques likes to be gentle. He's a dog. When his wife (Vanessa Paradis) leaves him, Jacques says nothing. He doesn't even whine, because he understands. But he comes back, finds the red size 47 tennis shoes in the doorway of his wife's bedroom. His son, Victor (Tom Canivet), surprises him in his room and watches from his bed as Jacques smiles at him in the half-light. He says nothing. Doesn't smile back.

When he left, Jacques decided to adopt a dog. A companion for just a few hours, since he's run over by a bus on the way to the hotel Jacques is soon unable to pay for, since he's running out of money, since he's about to be made redundant.

But he finds a new master. The dog salesman, Max (Bouli Lanners), who sold him the little dog, of which all that remains now is a dark stain on the asphalt. It's with Max that Jacques discovers the dog's other life. One of orders and threats, of blows and complaints thrown at the moon, swollen with the hope of escape and the call of the woods. Until the last evening of a man's life he didn't understand.

Jacques' second life suits him much better. In the living room of the house he once knew without even being aware of it, Jacques can eat Victor's father's size 47 red tennis shoe and watch the raindrops on the glass, the twilight or clarity of the night and the propagation of transverse waves on the surface of the water. Mother is gentle with Jacques, and the child never fails to say goodbye when he leaves home. Jacques is a dog, born of ancient violence and an unspeakable past.

The human situation

Samuel Benchetrit's film, based on his book of the same title, carries multiple messages and echoes of human complexity. One thing's for sure: no one leaves the theater unscathed. It's another of those films that still unsettle in the days following its screening, and whose hour-and-a-half seems to have left the viewer questioning everything.

Firstly, by the character's sometimes unbearable slowness to react. - most of the time by a simple expression on his infinitely disconcerted face -, The reflection begins around passivity and obedience. Two themes that will never cease to disturb the viewer, as this human with the soul of a dog lets events unfold without changing anything, or almost nothing.

After that, it's violence, submission and powerlessness. Suddenly, our hearts are filled with a desire to do something for the inactive Jacques, to save his skin. We then understand that we can do nothing for others unless they themselves are willing to change. Vincent Macaigne teaches us a harsh lesson in life, without falling into the trap of pathos or allowing his character to be pitied.

Perhaps there's also the infamous possibility that kindness and understanding are neither aids, nor sufficient qualities to find happiness, but the ugly mask of passivity, of «I don't know», of time passing dictated by the law of «I don't care».

The animal state

Another theme gradually emerges: man is an animal like any other, except that he is incapable of accepting simplicity. He seeks profit, power and happiness, without even knowing where to look. Jacques' gaze allows him to dream as he pleases, because for him, like our favorite canines, there's nothing more beautiful than simplicity.

Nature's law prevails in this disturbing work: the weak, inactive animal dies after being tortured, abused, pursued or rejected by other beasts, who are simply more animated than it. In reality, all the characters are dogs. And it's not impossible that, in the director's eyes, each and every one of us is one.

In this way, the animals are taken out of their appearance and suddenly clothed in human features, putting their feelings into the viewer's mind and allowing him or her to grasp the full horror of the brutality inflicted on «beasts» by human beings. It's a subject that may seem secondary, but in our view it lies at the heart of the film's questioning.

Write to the author : helene.lavoyer@leregardlibre.com

Photo credit: © Adok Films