Film
Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more
- Home
- Box Office
- Listings
- Trailers
- Features
Bookmark this page- Edition:
Les Chiens (1978)
Director: Alain Jessua
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
A doctor becomes increasingly disturbed by the number of bite wounds he is treating. The town is a vile new creation in which street crime is rampant, racism abounds, and the local bourgeoisie have taken to keeping Alsatians for pets. But as in Shock Treatment (shown here as Doctor in the Nude), Jessua is adept at intimating a large political conspiracy from his thriller elements. The finger here seems to point back to Depardieu, who is the local dog-trainer but who when pressed goes a little Fascist around the gills and starts spouting Nietzsche. Considerable ambiguity is lent to it all by the conversion of the doctor's liberal girlfriend from a rape victim into a dog-toting vigilante. There is also the spectre of France's colonial past in the shape of black gastarbeiter. A worthwhile, thoughtful film which deals with its large themes with surprising complexity. CPea.Author: CPea
Cast & crew
Director: Alain Jessua
Producer: Laurent Meyniel
Cast: Gérard Depardieu, Victor Lanoux, Nicole Calfan, Pierre Vernier, Gérard Séty, Pierre Londiche full cast
Genre(s): Thrillers
Duration: 99 mins
Most popular on this site
Features
To the letter
Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.
Mind over matter
David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.
Fool's gold
Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.
We are the championed
Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."
A history of violence
Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.
True romantic
James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.
Playing in the dark
MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.
Junk bonds
Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.
What do you think?
Post your review now