In the Spring Festival film has not yet large-scale attack, January film on the big screen, a group of unique charm of “small and beautiful” works quietly gathered, of which, by France and Switzerland co-produced “The Trial of the Dog” attracted much attention.
The film, which premiered in the Kind of Attention section of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, was created by Letitia Dorsch, who not only wrote and directed the film, but also starred in it himself. Her previous performances in such works as “Young Woman” and “Acid Rain Etched” are impressive. It is worth mentioning that another key “actor” in the film, a dog named Cody, stood out in the fierce competition for the Cannes Dog Palme d ‘Or award, beating the black dog Xiao Xin in “Dog Parade” to win the award. At the 6th Hainan International Film Festival to be held at the end of 2024, first-time director Letitia Dorsch won the Best Director award for “Dog Trials.”
“The Dog Trial” is centered on a dog bite lawsuit in Lausanne, Switzerland. Lawyer Avril Lavigne’s working condition in the law firm is not satisfactory, facing the crisis of being dismissed by the boss. In order to change this situation, she resolutely took on a very challenging lawsuit. Darish suffers from eye problems and is interdependent with the dog Cosmo. However, Cosmo bit Portuguese immigrant nanny Lorraine, Darish was sentenced to a fine, Cosmo is facing the grim fate of being destroyed by humanity. Avril was appointed at the moment of crisis, she cleverly used the loophole in the law that only one defendant can be punished, broke the unreasonable setting of the dog only as an appendage of the owner, and appealed the case to a higher court, making the case quickly become the focus of social attention. The case became embroiled in controversy between animal rights groups and feminist groups as zoologists presented evidence that dogs are biologically more likely to bite women, and Lavigne was caught in a difficult choice between her sympathy for the victims and her duty as a lawyer. But after an actual encounter with Cosmo the dog, she decided to plead her case from a new perspective.
An interesting episode occurred during Letitia Dorsch’s preparation for The Dog Trials. She ran into Justine Triet, the director of “The Battle of Solferno” and “Naughty Boys and Girls,” who told her that he was working on a film called “Falling Judgment,” about a lawsuit with a female protagonist and dogs and visually impaired characters. Dorsch marveled at how these elements matched the film he had in mind. However, The Dog Trial and the Falling Trial are actually very different. In The Trial of the Dog, the dog is not a supporting character, nor a metaphorical symbol, but a well-deserved protagonist.
Moreover, although both films have a lot of courtroom scenes, they have very different styles. The opening scene of “Dog Trials” seems to take a suspense route, centered on whether Cosmo bites people, but as the victim Lorraine actively shows the disfigured face, the suspense quickly disappears, and the film also gets rid of the conventions and moves toward a more profound narrative direction.
The highlight of the film is the transformation of Lavigne’s perception of Cosmo and the dog as an animal. In the lower court, she separated the dog from the definition of human appendage for the first time and recognized that the dog had a will of its own, a defense strategy that gained Cosmo a glimmer of life, but with some acute cleft. Later, in the in-depth contact with Cosmo, she truly understood the biological characteristics of dogs, and realized that dogs are not only pets to accompany humans, but also retain animal instincts. She believes that dogs bite when they feel threatened is an instinctive response, and humans simply judge a dog by its docility, this completely human-centered cognitive way is unreasonable. This leads to deeper thinking: do human beings have the right to judge animals for showing their instincts, or even impose capital punishment that deprives them of life? It can be seen that this so-called “dog trial” is actually a trial of human beings themselves, and a profound inquiry to the audience.
Regarding Cosmo’s ultimate fate, The Dog Trials does not stray from reality in pursuit of dramatic effect. While focusing on animal rights, the film also reveals social issues such as immigration bias and women’s injustice through court arguments. However, the film also has some regrets, such as the court debate is not exciting and fierce. Although Rosalyn, the political lawyer who defends Lorraine, is portrayed in the film, the portrayal is too exaggerated and melodramatic to fully show her debating talents.
On the whole, the rhythm of the Dog Trial is smooth and natural, and the scenes of the protagonist’s daily life are cleverly interspersed with the courtroom drama, gradually revealing the complex and deep-rooted social problems behind the case. As Letitia Dorsch’s feature-length directorial debut, she fully demonstrates her potential and talent. At the same time, Cody, the dog who plays Cosmo, also performs well, and his natural and vivid interpretation, without any trace of performance, shows the various states of the dog incisively and vividly, as if he is the dog in real life.
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