Les Chiens
1979 Thriller / Drama   
 
Credits
  • Director: Alain Jessua
  • Script: André Ruellan, Alain Jessua
  • Photo: Étienne Becker
  • Music: René Koering, Michel Portal
  • Cast: Gérard Depardieu (Morel), Victor Lanoux (Docteur Henri Ferret), Nicole Calfan (Elisabeth), Pierre Vernier (Gauthier), Fanny Ardant (L'infirmière), Philippe Klébert (Franck), Régis Porte (Jacques), Gérard Séty (Le maire), Philippe Mareuil (Beauchamp), Henri Labussière (Montagnac, le pharmacien), Anna Gaylor (Madame Colin), Elisabeth Kaza (La première invitée), Monique Morisi (La seconde invitée), Frédéric Pouget, Maurice Illouz (Le patron disco)
  • Country: France
  • Language: French
  • Runtime: 100 min
  • Aka: The Dogs
 
 
 
Summary
A young doctor, Henri Ferret, moves to a small provincial town and is immediately struck by the mood of fear that pervades the area.  A number of his clients has been viciously assaulted, and their reaction is to join the increasing number of people who have acquired guard dogs to protect them.  The one man who most benefits from this trend is Morel, the owner of the town's dog kennels.  When the mayor, Boursault, tries to take action against Morel, he himself becomes the victim of the rising tide of aggression.  Concerned with the way the town is heading, Ferret decides to act…

Review
Les Chiens comes close to being an effective moral tale that shows the ease with which an apparently ordinary community can be transformed into a neo-fascist colony.  Unfortunately, its over-the-top melodrama and directorial excesses give it a touch of the absurd, weakening its serious political messages.  Fanny Ardant makes her screen début in this film in a minor supporting role.  She would subsequently star alongside Gérard Depardieu in Francois Truffaut’s La femme d’à coté (1981).

© James Travers 2004


Write a review for this film...