Film Review: C'est Arrivé Près De Chez Vouz (Man Bites Dog) [1992]

Man Bites Dog is a black comedy/mockumentary that has us, the viewers, following the story of the murderer Benoit as a film crew follows him throughout his days, recording his everyday life.

Now I call Benoit a murderer but it doesn't quite describe his actions. He's more of a criminal who murders. He's not the kind of person you'd have an episode of CSI dedicated to but the kind of man who enjoys beating up post men, doing home invasions and shooting people in the head. The film depicts normal days for him and we follow as the film crew gets more and more personally invested in his daily life, helping him carry bodies, tossing them into the river with him and at an occasion, even becoming targets of a couple of stray bullets.



Benoit himself is an incredibly charismatic main character, despite his revolting personality. Be it during the moments when he vividly describes how to best weigh down a corpse so that it will sink to the bottom of the river or when he's describing the facade of a building he doesn't like, his performance is enchanting. The movie draws you into this place that starts of at an easy feet as comical moments blend into the horrifying acts that Benoit commits. There's a scene where he just has murdered the husband of a family and he asks the person with the boom microphone to move it closer so that they can capture the sound of Benoit snapping the dead man's neck and the ridiculousness and the mundane fashion of how its done leaves a comical value to the scene as viewers ponder the question "Is this funny or disgusting?".

This is a question that lies in the back of your head throughout the entire film. You're almost laughing at the ridiculousness of several of the scenes but you're also equally parts revolted. Even when Patrick, the sound-guy, gets hit and killed by a stray bullet and the director Remy talks, with tears in his eyes, about how this film is going to be made for Patrick, for Patrick's wife and the child that Patrick's wife has been carrying, even then we're not quite sure whether it is actually a horrible film or a comical mockumentary.

The film crew gets more and more close with Benoit, despite them constantly being reminded of how awful his actions are and despite them constantly having second thoughts about the things they are shooting. The more they let their guard down, the more they get drawn into the criminal and psychopathic life styles that Benoit lives. There's a scene where Remy, the director, carries a body for Benoit, another one where the film crew helps him escape jail, and maybe the most atrocious one, where the film crew joins in on the gang rape of a woman.

I interpret this film as a film that indirectly breaks the fourth wall and indirectly speaks to the viewer. You're put into the shows of the voyeur, the spot of the film crew recording Benoit's horrifying actions and every time you smile or laugh at the ridiculous nature of a murder, be it Benoit shocking an older woman into a heart attack so he won't waste a bullet or as the gang takes a taxi with Benoit's gun to the head of the driver, you find yourself becoming an accomplice, and not far from as horrible as you see the film crew slowly becoming from their time with the man.

I see this film on many of those "films you will once watch once"-lists and I don't think the content of the film is enough to qualify it for such a stamp. The film in itself is in fact quite good, Benoit's acting is splendid and adds a ton of character to his role aswell as the emotion packed into a lot of scenes (I'm not talking about the most gruesome ones) being impressive aswell. What I do think makes this film being placed in such a spot is because of how the film treats its viewers, subjecting them to the horrible comical violence just to finally hit them with some violence without the comedy which makes you quickly come to your senses and think "have I been laughing at this?".

Pigeon, winged cloak of grey
In the city's hellish maw
One glance, and you fly away

It's hard to find a moral of this story. It's a gruesome film that depicts repulsive actions in a comedic way, which is what I think gives it that edge over similar films depicting extreme violence. Comparing many of the brutal scenes of Man Bites Dog to the ones in for instance A Clockwork Orange, Man Bites Dog quickly gains the upper hand because of how funny they're made be, how attractive they are compared to something that's just vile. It's a film that's fully aware of what it is doing and it isn't until we're finally faced with scenes that have lost their comedy, scenes that aren't absurd anymore and just downright horrible that we, the viewers, the voyeurs of the crimes, come to realize how awful it actually is.

Man Bites Dog
dir. Benoit Poelvoorde, André Bonzel, Rémy Belvaux
6.5/10
Anton Öberg Sysojev