A man and his dog
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | A man and his dog |
| Original title | Un homme et son chien |
| Country of production | France |
| original language | French |
| Publishing year | 2008 |
| length | 94 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Francis Huster |
| script | Francis Huster Murielle Magellan based on the script by Cesare Zavattini |
| production | Jean-Louis Livi |
| music | Philippe Rombi |
| camera | Vincent Jeannot |
| cut | Luciana Reali |
| occupation | |
| |
A man and his dog is a film by Francis Huster from the year 2008 with Jean-Paul Belmondo in the lead role. It is a remake of Umberto D. , the story of an invalid from 1952, by Vittorio De Sica . At Belmondo, the war victim turned into an elderly man who is hurt in his love and pride in life.
After the world premiere on November 13, 2008 at the "Festival du film de Sarlat", the film had its cinema premiere in France in 2009, and in August 2010 it was shown in the night program of ARD . The German Degeto co-produced the film . The film never came into German cinemas. In France it was a flop, more or less failed both with the audience and with the critics. Only 165,200 viewers saw him within two weeks.
action
The attractive and wealthy widow Jeanne throws the pensioner Charles, whom she has lodged as a lodger since the death of her husband, together with his dog from her luxury Paris apartment. Charles had been her husband's best friend since their days in the Navy . Jeanne wants to get married again, wants to renovate and needs space. Only the pregnant young domestic servant Leila has pity and takes care of the old man, but can only support him ideally. When he gets caught between the fronts of demonstrators, rioters and police at a demonstration against pension cuts and is injured, she takes care of him. After being kicked out, she lets him camp in her room for one night. Before that, Jeanne's fiancé, Robert, the understanding hospital doctor, had put him in his clinic for a week free of charge. He gives the disabled Charles his father's old walking stick. Jeanne, however, remains tough, even if she is unhappy about it herself. Jeanne and Charles had a liaison once in earlier years . But he did not want to marry her because he could not forget his late wife. Now she's belatedly taking revenge, even though she still loves him.
With an extremely low pension, Charles, who has no financial reserves, then lives on the street with his little mongrel dog, which he simply calls "dog". When the dog escaped during his stay in the clinic, he took him out of the shelter by taxi . Charles doesn't have a family of his own. He was able to sell his possibly valuable book collection and use the proceeds to pay off his rent with Jeanne. He feels that asking for help is beneath his dignity. His income from his pension is initially just enough for overnight stays in hotels. There he reads to his dog from Moby Dick , lying on the bed . Attempts to hide with old friends fail. During the day he mingles with clochards , sits on park benches and eats in soup kitchens . He begs in affluent areas of the city, but is robbed in the process. After he cannot find a permanent place to stay, he decides to put an end to his life. He tries in vain to get rid of his dog to strangers and eventually abandons him near a train station. There he meets Leila for the last time and pretends to take the next train to Marseille , his hometown. In truth, he decides to kill himself on the railroad. The intelligent dog finds its way back to him and does not turn from his side. A "joint" suicide attempt when Charles lies down on the railroad tracks fails because the dog breaks free and flees. Charles miraculously survives too. He asks his dog for forgiveness.
It is only after he has regained the dog's friendship that Charles can come to terms with his new fate. What its future will look like remains open. The final scene shows Charles and "dog" tired but peacefully united on a bench.
background
The film was Belmondo's first appearance after suffering a stroke in 2001; therefore his body and voice control is all the more remarkable. Numerous well-known stars of French film appeared in smaller roles.
Reviews
“Drawn from the stroke he suffered in 2001, Belmondo creates a touching outsider portrait. Nevertheless, the sluggish film never reaches the level of the Italian original 'Umberto D.' "
Belmondo subsequently apologized to his audience and admitted that the film was not "good" but that it helped them overcome the effects of his stroke.
Web links
- A man and his dog in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Dates of the premiere (French)
- ↑ Le Point on the financial failure of A Man and His Dog ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , published on February 2, 2009, accessed on August 9, 2010
- ↑ Brief review (French) ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Review on cinema.de , accessed on November 8, 2010
- ↑ Interview with Christian Brincourt: Le coup de gueule de Belmondo ( Memento of the original of August 24, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , published in Paris Match on August 13, 2009. Quote: The audience wants a different guy - mon public souhaite garder une autre image de Belmondo.
