Bestiaire (2012)
Director: Denis Côté
Country: Canada | France
Runtime: 72 min
Animals/People: Along the rhythm of the changing seasons they watch one
another. Bestiary unfolds like a filmed picture book about mutual
observation, about peculiar perception. A contemplation of a stable
imbalance, and of lose, tranquil and indefinable elements.
A drawing course, a safari park and a taxidermist’s workshop: three
settings in which humans and animals meet. The focus of observation is
on relationships of sight and perception, which often reflect unequal
power structures at the same time. In the process, the film also seems
to be considering the question of how animals can be filmed.
It’s nothing like the technically high-powered animal films of today,
whose almighty cameras transcend the boundaries of water, land and air
and no longer know nature’s secrets. Sober visual observation without
commentary, with an often static camera watching proceedings from a
fixed position with a keen eye for form and movement: horns in front of a
concrete wall, nervous zebras’ legs in the cramped stalls, the
precision contained in the taxidermist’s skillful hand movements.
Carefully considered shots which allow the viewer time to reflect on
beauty and the unfamiliar, on this domesticated wilderness in the midst
of civilisation. This all allows a form of choreography to emerge to the
accompaniment of the surrounding noises, a cinematic bestiary in which
man too takes his place among the stoic, impassive, impatient, wild and
rebellious animals.
Director: Gilles Bourdos
