What should be considered when choosing a movie to watch? Definitely not on sites with viewer ratings and reviews. Otherwise, there is a chance to miss something worthwhile. Perhaps not brilliant, but sincere and real. Such as the film of the Frenchman Ivan Attal “My dog is an idiot”.
Henri Moen is a novelist who wrote a worthy novel 20 years ago, which became a bestseller and collected all conceivable and unthinkable awards, and now he is a loser in a creative crisis, writing “all kinds of nonsense” and reveling in nostalgia and self-pity. Henri lives by the ocean, but dreams of Italy; dreams of selling everything and starting a new life in Piazza Navona.
The family does not allow him to do this – it is her that Henri blames for his protracted crisis. Wife – and after all, she spent 25 years with him, resorting day after day to a proven remedy – “a glass of white wine and a new antidepressant for every year of marriage.”
Four children – they generally have “a magical gift to ruin all plans.” On them, Henri pours out the accumulated discontent and disappointment in himself and in life – with high expectations, reproaches and eternal discontent.
Henri 50, “the best years are behind us.” The only evidence of his past victories is his beloved car, and he no longer expects new successes, until … Until a huge shameless dog bursts into his life and into his “madhouse where everyone yells at each other”. It breaks in in the literal sense of the word: it tumbles into the house, occupies the sofa and abruptly suppresses any attempts by the Moen family to recapture the conquered territory.
To write, you need to love and understand. But I do not understand. Otherwise, I would have learned to love people and look at the world more affectionately.
The dog seems to be from the past, “with questions about the eternal.” He becomes Henri’s victory – one that he no longer expected. A dog with an uncomplicated and eloquent name Idiot – “all the cars, all the women who will no longer be,” from Henri.
But while Henri himself wins back at the expense of a thug-dog in a world that he cannot cope with himself, asserts himself and takes revenge on the offenders, a strange family, where everyone seems to be dissatisfied with each other, is gradually collapsing.
The dog becomes a catalyst, the reaction to which leads to the fact that the writer is left alone. Henri’s children not only fly away from their parent’s nest – they rather run in all four directions, slamming the door loudly in parting; their wife soon follows them.
“Four minus five equals minus one” is a disappointing result of family life. Left alone, Henri gradually understands: “To write, you need to love and understand. But I do not understand. Otherwise, I would have learned to love people and look at the world more affectionately. I would see the beauty around, and it would capture my mind and body, in the same moment turned into text.
Another discovery is banal to the point of pain, but the fact is that she, this love, is inside. She is there, under the rubble of hope. It remains only to help her get out into the world. And the Idiot helps. The dog is a victory, the dog is a medicine, the dog is a guide to the inner world.