“The Trial of the Dog”, by Laetitia Dosch, a comedy with a kick!

IN SOME PERSPECTIVE

Halfway through the Festival, a Cannes revelation: the dog Kodi! The griffin sits on the poster for Laetitia Dosch’s first feature film, The Trial of the Dogpresented at Un certain regard… One year after the success of the border collie Messi, in Anatomy of a fallby Justine Triet, Palme d’Or in 2023, coupled with a Palm Dog for the animal, the actor dogs definitely have their noses in the wind – Messi actually took the steps triumphantly on May 14.

It must be said that the griffin of Dog Trial is quite good at moving us, and hanging us over his fate. Kodi, who accompanies a visually impaired man, Dariuch (François Damiens), has bitten several individuals and should normally be “asleep”, a modest term to evoke his death. The actress and director was inspired by a real event, which she twists into a surreal and crazy fable. Laetitia Dosch plays a lost cause lawyer, Avril, who will try the improbable, to convince the court that Kodi is a person. As such, he would have the right to a trial.

Queen of burlesque

We knew the actress, discovered in the first “feature” by Justine Triet, The Battle of Solferino (2013), as well as the performer of an unforgettable duet with her horse, Haste (2018), created at the Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne (Switzerland). With The Trial of the Dog, Laetitia Dosch reveals herself as queen of burlesque, borderline situations and laughter buried under tons of reflection (anti-speciesist, etc.). Because the subject is very serious.

Avril, the civil code acrobat, will turn the heads of the judges and experts who take the stand – Jean-Pascal Zadi plays an animal advisor as creative and crazy as the lawyer. If dogs are “man’s best friend”, what place do we give them in society? Did Kodi attack to defend himself? Can the lady victim of the bite, who lost half of her cheek, obtain compensation other than through the death of the animal? And when it turns out that Kodi attacks women more than men, the film becomes an irresistible #metoo doggie.