André Bonzel makes the act of filming hard to excuse in Man Bites Dog. We value its uneasy comedy and its attention to the person holding the camera, though the film keeps reaching for shocks after its point is clear.
Fi1m perspective
In Man Bites Dog (1992), the camera stays with Ben, a killer who makes agreeable company. André Bonzel and his co-directors let that sociability do much of the work, showing how readily a pleasant companion can make cruelty seem acceptable. We find the film sharp and intermittently funny, but too dependent on further violence to sustain itself. Its most useful question is simple enough: why are these people still filming?
Bonzel had worked with Rémy Belvaux and Benoît Poelvoorde on the short Pas de C4 pour Daniel Daniel (1987). He co-wrote, co-directed and shot Man Bites Dog, using handheld black-and-white photography to make its documentary pretence convincing. The camera has someone behind it, choosing to stay. By appearing as André, alongside Belvaux as Rémy, Bonzel makes that responsibility harder to forget.
Poelvoorde’s sociable performance as Ben is essential to this, and the film’s effects cannot sensibly be credited to Bonzel alone. We laughed at Ben’s easy manner, then felt uncomfortable because Poelvoorde had made a murderer such agreeable company. The joke works because the crew’s interest is understandable even when their conduct is not.
The weakness is how little the film finds to add once that attraction has been established. Later shocks repeat the accusation, and repetition makes the comedy less effective. We do not need to be persuaded afresh that cruelty can become entertainment. The co-directors let the violence continue after the joke has done its work.
After Man Bites Dog, Bonzel worked mainly as a cinematographer before returning to directing with Et j'aime à la fureur (Flickering Ghosts of Loves Gone By) (2021). He wrote and edited this autobiographical documentary, assembling personal and found archive footage. That change of subject is reason enough not to reduce his work to the killer and the crew. Do not choose Man Bites Dog for an undemanding evening.
Biography
André Bonzel is a French film director, screenwriter, producer and cinematographer. Born in Paris on 31 May 1961, he studied at the Institut national supérieur des arts du spectacle (INSAS) in Brussels, where he met Rémy Belvaux and Benoît Poelvoorde.
Bonzel co-directed, co-wrote, co-produced and served as cinematographer on the 1992 black comedy Man Bites Dog (also credited as actor playing the cameraman André). The film, made on a low budget as a student project, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and received the International Critics’ Prize. He has also directed the 1987 short Pas de C4 pour Daniel Daniel and the 2021 documentary Flickering Ghosts of Loves Gone By (also known as Et j'aime à la fureur), and worked as cinematographer on other projects.
