At every Cannes Film Festival, there's a popular dog. Last year, the role was held by Messi, the dog fromAnatomie d'une Chute, but this year it was undoubtedly Kodi, the dog from Laetitia Dosch's film Le Procès du Chien (The Trial of the Dog), her first behind the camera, who turned hearts upside down (winning the Palm Dog in the process).
TheFranco-Swiss actress plays the (human) lead role of Avril Lucciani, a lawyer specializing in lost causes. Her new case is just as complicated to defend: Cosmos, recidivist dog and faithful companion of Dariuch Michovski(François Damiens, all biglery) is accused of biting three times. His latest victim, Lorene Furtado (Anabela Moreira), was left disfigured.
Faced with the threat of euthanasia hanging over the canine's head, and against the advice of her boss(Pierre Deladonchamps), the candid Avril does everything in her power to save the pooch. And so begins a farcical trial- the first dog trial in Switzerland since the Middle Ages - to decide whether or not Cosmos is responsible for his actions. Watch out, bad dog?
Inspired by real events and Romain Gary's White Dog, Laetitia Dosch's first film is a funny, absurd comedy, in which all the traditional judicial ceremonial is applied to the incongruous trial of this dog. Paced by tonal shifts, modern direction and zany supporting characters(Jean-Pascal Zadi as a dog trainer, Anne Dorval as the xenophobic far-right opposing counsel), the film also raises some very topical issues.
And so, on hearing of the beast's possible misogyny, a crowd rushes to the courthouse to demonstrate, feminists vs. antispeciesists. In the end, it's not so much the trial that's surreal as the epidermal reactions of contemporary society to something it doesn't understand. A first film that's as funny as it is moving, and a great success.
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