Before the Spring Festival movie season arrives in full force, the big screen in January is filled with a number of "small but beautiful" films, a rare sight. The French and Swiss co-production "The Trial of the Dogs" (Le procès du chien) is one of them.

The Trial of the Dog poster

The film was first shown in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. It was written, directed and acted by French actress Laetitia Dosch, who has appeared in "Young Woman" and "Acid Rain". Another leading actor in the film is a puppy named Cody, who won the Cannes Dog Palme d'Or by defeating the black dog Xiao Xin in "Dogs". At the 6th Hainan International Film Festival held at the end of 2024, Laetitia Dosch, who directed for the first time, won another Best Director Award for this film.

The story of the film revolves around a lawsuit about a dog biting a person in Lausanne, Switzerland. Avril, a lawyer who was frustrated in the law firm, took on a difficult case in order to change her boss's idea of firing her: Darish, who suffers from eye disease, and his dog Cosmo depend on each other for survival. Unexpectedly, Cosmo bit Lorraine, a Portuguese immigrant who came to work as a nanny. Darish was fined, and Cosmo faced the fate of being humanely destroyed. Avril, who was ordered to take charge in a critical moment, took advantage of the loophole in the law that only one defendant can be punished, breaking the unreasonable setting that dogs can only be accessories of their owners, and took the case to a higher court, which became a social hotspot that attracted the attention of the whole people. Due to the testimony of zoologists that dogs are more likely to bite women from a biological point of view, the case became the target of criticism from animal protection groups and feminist groups, and Avril was also hesitant between sympathy for the victim and the duties of a lawyer. However, after actually getting along with the dog Cosmo, she decided to make a defense from a completely new perspective...

Stills from "The Trial of the Dog"

When Laetitia Dosch was preparing for the filming of "The Trial of a Dog", an interesting incident happened. One day, she ran into Justine Tellier, the director with whom she had worked on "The Battle of Solferino" and "Naughty Boys and Girls", who told her that he was making a film called "The Trial of the Fallen", which was mainly about a lawsuit, with a female protagonist, a dog and a visually impaired character. Dosch thought about it and thought, isn't this exactly the movie I want to make? ! Of course, "The Trial of a Dog" and "The Trial of the Fallen" are completely different works. First of all, the dog does not appear as a supporting role in this work, nor is it a metaphorical object like in many works, but a real protagonist.

Secondly, although both works have a lot of courtroom scenes, "The Trial of a Dog" is not as confusing as "The Trial of a Fallen". It is true that the film seems to be deliberately taking the usual suspenseful route of such works at the beginning, that is, whether Cosmo really bit someone. However, after the victim Lorraine accidentally exposed her disfigured face, the doubts came to an abrupt end, and the film also broke away from the cliché and became more intriguing.

Stills from "The Trial of the Dog"

The biggest highlight of the film is actually the change in Avril's cognition of Cosmo or dogs. The first time was in the primary court, she separated dogs from the definition of human accessories like tables and chairs, and determined that they are animals with their own will, thus giving Cosmo a glimmer of hope. However, this defense was somewhat clever. The second time was when she really understood dogs as creatures, realizing that they not only exist as pets to accompany humans, but also retain their animal nature. Therefore, in Avril's view, it is their instinct to bite when they feel threatened. And the so-called docile and obedient dogs are good dogs, and the dogs that bite people are bad dogs. This completely human-oriented cognition itself is not reasonable. The more important question is: As creatures living on this earth, do humans have the right to judge them because of their instincts, or even impose extreme punishments on them to deprive them of their lives? It can be seen that this so-called "dog trial" is actually a trial of humans and an interrogation of you and me outside the screen.

As for Cosmo's final fate, "A Dog's Trial" did not ignore the reality in pursuit of drama. In addition to animal rights, the film also uses court defense to bring out social issues such as prejudice against immigrants and the long-standing injustice suffered by women. If there is a regret, it is that the confrontation in the courtroom is not sparked enough. Although the film does spend some time portraying Avril's opponent, Rosalyn, a politician lawyer who defends Lorraine, her image is overly exaggerated and stereotyped, and her actual eloquence is not shown at all.

Stills from "The Trial of the Dog"

Overall, the rhythm of "The Trial of a Dog" is very smooth, with the protagonist's life scenes interweaving with the courtroom scenes, step by step revealing the deep-rooted problems behind the case. Especially as a debut feature film, it also shows that Letitia Dosch has a promising future. Of course, Cody, who plays Cosmo, also deserves credit. If the shepherd dog Messi showed superb method acting in "The Trial of a Dog", then Cody is an experiential actor without any trace of acting. It is sometimes docile, sometimes angry, sometimes well-behaved, and sometimes naughty - just like a dog.