Le chien (1962 TV Movie) User Reviews

poetic pure

[info-71713 · 17 January 2018]

A marvellous movie, very deep, poetic and political, really modern!

Something with Delon & Elke Sommer

[RodrigAndrisan · 2/10 · 15 October 2017]

If you love them probably you will watch, it's not very long, only one hour. But, it's boring to death, you will need a lot of coffee to resist until the end. There is no story, just the pretext to watch them. And, you know what, they are just beautiful, they were not great actors. The love story between Delon and his dog it's a story for little babies. Rex the dog plays very well the role of dog.

TV Special Special Indeed

[info-627-664439 · 8/10 · 29 May 2015]

In 1962,the TV special that Francois Chalais wrote and directed which seemed rather somewhat autobiographical, making it even more quaint and touching, as it tells the story of a dog that brings a couple together and allows them to make love at the risk of never seeing each other again. The one hour dramatic and cinematic effort stars two over the title stars, Alain Delon and Elke Sommer as the couple, each winning us over by their remarkable talent. Elke even gets to sing a little German song, completely in keeping with her character's design. This is a beautifully told, at times somewhat awkward, but still quite endearing and entertaining. Very well done. Highly recommended rarity.

Dog and Delon nostalgia with excellent jazz

[figueroafernando · 8/10 · 21 May 2023]

For a journalist like Chalais, who served on both diametrically opposed sides during the heyday of the 1940s -as a collaborator and later as a resistance fighter- this humorous and emotional artifact, somewhat Nouvelle Vague for its part, is clear. The style and another little psychodramatic, without reaching the political pamphlet; Or am I the only one who thinks that, without knowing the director's intellectual background, it would be an exaggeration to understand Delon's character being overwhelmed by thinking about the role of his recent love interest, the blonde he is about to kiss, overwhelmed by I repeat, just before kissing her, because she is German and specifically from Berlin? Rex returns home and waits for the foolish Delon, thus culminating a strange evening between abusive collections from a bar tender and a delicious trail of vintage jazz that make this short enjoyable, although it doesn't have a bigger plot than the accidental loss of the dog when he enters the dance-hall and meets the one who asks his name and, like a character from Godard or Truffaut, refuses to leave immediately, boasting of having covered his ears with wax like Ulysses to resist the siren of the night. The affection with which Delon hugs and kisses his pet is one of Delon's collection scenes unforgettable because of his compulsive face. The short end is worth it.

Loneliness of a man and his dog

[searchanddestroy-1 · 16 November 2023]

Alain Delon and his rival and pal Jean Paul Belmondo have both in common to have made ONE film, where they both play characters, lonely characters, and their dog. Alain Delon during his early years of career - LE CHIEN, this very one, and Jean Paul Belmondo for his very last movie: UN HOMME ET SON CHIEN. Here, Delon announces unvoluntarily his character seven years later in LE SAMOURAI: the loneliness of a man with a pet; here a dog, and in LE SAMOURAI a bird. This small feature is pretty interesting and also unavoidable for any Alain Delon's fan. And I am sure only a few of them know this one. I had never heard of it before watching it today.

Interesting reflection on life, loneliness, dog and human love

[adrianovasconcelos · 8/10 · 31 October 2021]

This is a young Delon contemplating life. It has its moments, certainly beautiful persons and places, and a truly to die for dog.

Love, loyalty, deception, business all come into this 57-minute feature. Certainly makes you think and certainly has some points better than others - but if you like Delon, you won't want to miss this.

Romy.....

[info-71713 · 17 January 2018]

Important is to know, that Delon was to this time (1961) with Romy Schneider together and parrallels are interesting to discover in this movie.

When you're alone and life is making you lonely,you can always go downtown

[dbdumonteil · 17 March 2015]

"Le Chien " must be one of the rare MTV movies of the era which features a silver screen star ,and a very famous at that:Alain Delon,in 1962,after Visconti's and Clément's works was already a superstar ;why he agreed to play in a low budget MTV work is pretty amazing.

Dare it be said:Delon is miscast ;he is too handsome to portray successfully a lonesome man in love ....with his dog ;in fact,the only scenes that are still fine today are the ones with the animal. Besides ,François Chalais ,a reporter and a cinema historian,must have loved the Nouvelle Vague flicks very much ,for his movie resembles theirs:the interminable scene in the park strongly recalls that of Cleo and Antoine in "Cléo De 5 à 7",released the same year.There are numerous hints at WW2,for the girl the hero meets (Elke Sommer) is German;don't we learn that his parents died in the concentration camps ?The definitive reconciliation of France and Germany took place the following year (1963) ,thanks to De Gaulle and Adenauer.The barman says he knows nice people among the Germans,but a bit reluctantly.

This "Le Chien" found its director succumbing to all the Nouvelle Vague vices :filming on location,very loose screenplay,fortune cookie philosophies,"deep" meanings ,endless wanderings ,cult of youth .I Wonder what could have been the TV viewers' reaction to such a deadly dull work :considering the TV series and dramas which were made at the time,I guess they must have needed some aspirin.