Les Chiens (1979)

Les Chiens is a French thriller film first released in 1979, directed by Alain Jessua.  The film stars Gérard Depardieu, Victor Lanoux, Nicole Calfan, Pierre Vernier and Fanny Ardant.  It has also been released under the title: The Dogs.  Our overall rating for this film is: good.


A young doctor, Henri Ferret, moves to a small provincial town and is immediately struck by the mood of fear that pervades the area.  A number of his clients has been viciously assaulted, and their reaction is to join the increasing number of people who have acquired guard dogs to protect them.  The one man who most benefits from this trend is Morel, the owner of the town’s dog kennels.  When the mayor, Boursault, tries to take action against Morel, he himself becomes the victim of the rising tide of aggression.  Concerned with the way the town is heading, Ferret decides to act…

Les Chiens comes close to being an effective moral tale that shows the ease with which an apparently ordinary community can be transformed into a neo-fascist colony.  Unfortunately, its over-the-top melodrama and directorial excesses give it a touch of the absurd, weakening its serious political messages.  Fanny Ardant makes her screen début in this film in a minor supporting role.  She would subsequently star alongside Gérard Depardieu in Francois Truffaut’s La femme d’à coté (1981).

© James Travers 2004

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