Rémy Belvaux helped make a documentary crew’s willingness to keep filming feel disturbing in itself. We value the sour comedy of Man Bites Dog, though its repeated shocks limit what it has to say.
Fi1m perspective
The camera keeps filming Ben, and that persistence is what makes Man Bites Dog (1992) worth discussing. Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel and Benoît Poelvoorde build their mock documentary around a killer whose sociability makes him alarmingly watchable. We felt grubby taking an interest in Ben because Poelvoorde made his company so agreeable. It is a sharp provocation that goes on too long.
Belvaux had already worked with Bonzel and Poelvoorde on the short Pas de C4 pour Daniel Daniel (1987), before conceiving Man Bites Dog. The shared direction matters: much of the feature’s wit depends on Poelvoorde’s performance and Bonzel’s handling of the camera. Belvaux subsequently directed television commercials for Quad Productions in France and made no further features. One film carries most of his reputation, so we would be wary of attributing every quality of this joint effort to him alone.
Bonzel’s cinematography gives us a practical reason to question the crew: they could stop recording, yet the camera stays. Belvaux and Bonzel’s appearances as Rémy and André keep the people responsible in view, which makes the excuse of merely observing harder to accept. As an editor alongside Eric Dardill, Belvaux helps take the ease out of the comedy as the violence becomes harder to watch. The change works because Ben has first been allowed to entertain us, and the cutting makes that earlier enjoyment increasingly uncomfortable. There is skill in controlling that shift, even if the film then pushes it too far.
The problem is how little develops once the discomfort is established. Further brutality keeps proving that the material is appalling, while the people who want to film it receive too little explanation. Across its 96 minutes, Man Bites Dog spends too long repeating a point the comedy has already made, and Belvaux’s editing cannot fix that. We would have preferred more attention to the crew’s motives and fewer demonstrations of how much they can watch. Approach it for the sour comedy, provided prolonged brutality is not going to end the evening for you.
Biography
Rémy Belvaux (1966–2006) was a Belgian director, screenwriter, producer, editor and actor. He co-directed, co-wrote the story, produced and edited the 1992 black comedy mockumentary Man Bites Dog (original French title C'est arrivé près de chez vous) with André Bonzel and Benoît Poelvoorde; he also appeared in the film as one of the journalists documenting a serial killer.
Born in Namur, he was the brother of actor and director Lucas Belvaux and theatre director Bruno Belvaux. He began his career with short films including Pas de C4 pour Daniel Daniel (1987), made with some of the same collaborators. Man Bites Dog premiered at Cannes, where it won the International Critics' Prize and other awards.
Belvaux subsequently directed award-winning commercials. He died in Orry-la-Ville, France.
