Baxter (1989)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Jérôme Boivin

Writers:

Jacques Audiard (writer)
Jérôme Boivin (writer)

Release Date:

18 January 1989 (France)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Beware of the dog who thinks

Plot:

Her daughter Florence gives Mrs. Deville bull-terrier Baxter as a surprise present. Although she's afraid of him...

Plot Keywords:

Baby | Puppy | Old Woman | Dog | Old Man

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Lise Delamare	...	Madame Deville
Jean Mercure	...	Monsieur Cuzzo
Jacques Spiesser	...	Michel Ferrer
Catherine Ferran	...	Florence Morel
Jean-Paul Roussillon	...	Joseph Barsky
Sabrina Leurquin	...	Noelle
Daniel Rialet	...	Jean
Evelyne Didi	...	Marie Cuzzo
Rémy Carpentier	...	Roger Morel
Jany Gastaldi	...	Anne Ferrer
François Driancourt	...	Charles
Ève Ziberlin	...	Veronique
Malcom Scrannage	...	Jean-Jean
Léa Gabriele	...	Eva Braun
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Maxime Leroux	...	Baxter (voice)

MPAA:

Rated R for some language, violent images and sexual content.

Runtime:

82 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Alicéléo

Movie Connections:

Featured in "John Waters Presents Movies That Will Corrupt You: Baxter (#1.4)" (????)

Completely bizarre French black comedy!

Films where animals are given a persona and a human voice have long been a staple of children's entertainment, but I can't think of a single film made for adults where this is the case. With the exception of oddball French flick 'Baxter', of course! Any film with a premise as weird as this one is bound to become a must see for yours truly, but this is an idea which, when fused with black comedy, certainly has the potential to be great, and Jérôme Boivin's film comes close to fulfilling that promise. The film has a couple of points to make, and tries to fuse them with the perspective of a dog. The film follows Baxter - a bull terrier given to an old lady by her daughter. Baxter isn't fond of his owner, but she keeps him because she's lonely. However, it's not long before Baxter decides he's had enough and the old woman meets an untimely end. Baxter then moves on to the young couple across the street, where's he's happy for a while again, right up until their baby is born and he gets his nose pushed out. Baxter is searching for a human like him; and unfortunately, he soon finds one.

The film shows that no matter how evil a mind an animal has, there's always a human with a worse one. Baxter succeeds in showing life from the point of view of a supposedly obedient animal, and the most powerful things in this respect are the things that show the dog at it's most instinctive - things like mating with another dog and bending to his masters' will. The dog in this film may be a comical impression of the real life 'mans best friend', but somehow it doesn't feel so unbelievable that you can't buy into the film. The main reason why this film is so eerie owes to the voice artist behind the dog. Maxime Leroux's voice gives Baxter a distinctive air of evil and authority, which suits the dog well. The things that the dog says are always interesting and often insightful, which helps the film to create an absurd atmosphere as dogs aren't usually associated with intellectual intelligence. The conclusion to the film is undoubtedly shocking and completely surprising, and works really well. Overall, Baxter is too weird a film to ignore and for that reason if nothing else, it gets my full recommendation.