Benoît Poelvoorde makes objectionable men disturbingly easy company. We rate his comic assurance, though Man Bites Dog shows how a film can wear out its provocation while its leading performance still works.
Fi1m perspective
Ben talks to the documentary crew in Man Bites Dog (1992) with an ease that makes him alarmingly pleasant to spend time with. Benoît Poelvoorde plays the killer as a sociable man, without asking us to believe that sociability makes him decent. We laughed at his genial manner, then felt ashamed because the killings exposed how readily we had been won over. We value that ability to make an objectionable character enjoyable without softening what is objectionable about him.
Poelvoorde is answerable for more than the performance: he shares the direction with Rémy Belvaux and André Bonzel and has a screenplay credit. Their documentary premise gives Ben an audience within the film, allowing his friendliness towards the crew to implicate us in the amusement. For a while, the comedy works without explaining what is wrong with our laughter. The later shocks repeat a point already made, however, and the film becomes wearing despite the assurance of its leading actor.
His subsequent acting career took him into comedies such as Les Randonneurs (1997) and Podium (2004). Talkative, pretentious men and sore losers became familiar casting, with physical energy to match the verbal excess. A dramatic supporting part as Étienne Balsan in Coco Before Chanel (2009) put him alongside Audrey Tautou. He then took the romantic lead in Romantics Anonymous (2010), a useful reminder that the early killer need not define the whole actor.
In The Brand New Testament (2015), he plays God, keeping the absurdist comedy grounded through his performance. The reservation about those cynical, voluble characters is repetition: another man with plenty to say can feel familiar before he has said much. We would like the quieter dramatic work to remain a regular part of what he does, rather than an occasional departure from the comedy.
Try Man Bites Dog if cruel crime comedy appeals, but take the warning about graphic violence seriously. Its leading actor is reason enough for the interested to persist through its repetition. Do not let his charm make the decision for everyone sharing the sofa.
Biography
Benoît Poelvoorde is a Belgian actor, screenwriter, director and producer. Born on 22 September 1964 in Namur, he attended the Félicien Rops Technical Institute, where he met Rémy Belvaux and André Bonzel. The three collaborated on the short film Pas de C4 pour Daniel Daniel (1987) before making their feature debut with C'est arrivé près de chez vous (released internationally as Man Bites Dog, 1992), in which Poelvoorde played the lead role of Ben and shared writing, directing and producing credits.
The film brought him wider recognition. He went on to appear in French and Belgian comedies including Les Randonneurs (1997), Le Vélo de Ghislain Lambert (2001) and Podium (2004), and received the Prix Jean Gabin in 2002. Later credits include Coco Before Chanel (2009), Nothing to Declare (2010), The Brand New Testament (2015), Sink or Swim (2018) and Beating Hearts (2024).
