Tierische liebe

Where on earth does man’s peculiar inclination to commit himself to a dog for so many years come from? This need for control over an ever-devoted four-legged friend is caused by loneliness, Ulrich Seidl mercilessly demonstrates in this controversial gallery of Austrians, who allowed him to film them at home, with their dogs. To them, dogs are serfs they can shout at, straws in a bleak world and occasionally even strange bedfellows, for want of something better. Seidl, who is influenced by Hieronymus Bosch, chooses neat framing and stylised composition to portray these companions-in-adversity in their most intimate moments. Most of them live in flats and suburbs, where hundreds of thousands of people live together without real contact. Two men on a dreary courtyard shout vain orders at their wildly jumping dogs. Soon, the smile is wiped from the spectator’s face. Although, the alleged perversities gave the film its reputation, for which it was even banned in some countries, Seidl shows us people languishing in an indifferent society. ‘I have never looked so directly into hell in the cinema’, Werner Herzog said after watching the film.