Benoît Poelvoorde makes objectionable men disturbingly good company. His work as co-writer, co-director and co-producer on Man Bites Dog gives that charm a sharp purpose, though the film keeps reaching for shocks after it has made its point.
Fi1m perspective
In Man Bites Dog (1992), Poelvoorde’s Ben is a killer whose affability makes spending time with him uncomfortably easy. Poelvoorde gives him enough charm to explain why a documentary crew might keep following him when they ought to leave. We laughed at his affability, then felt ashamed of enjoying his company while the film kept his violence in view. It is a performance worth seeking out, provided this kind of black comedy is yours.
The film also gives us something concrete to admire in Poelvoorde’s work behind the camera: he co-wrote, co-directed and co-produced it. Rémy Belvaux and André Bonzel share the directing credit, while the screenplay brings Poelvoorde together with Bonzel and Vincent Tavier. Their sharpest observation concerns the crew, whose professional interest in an engaging subject makes continued filming seem reasonable to them. The weakness comes when the film treats the audience’s interest as evidence of the same appetite; we can be disturbed by violence without wanting more of it.
Popular comedies such as Les Randonneurs (1997) and Podium (2004) followed as acting became the centre of his career. In Podium, he plays a Claude François impersonator, a natural fit for an actor so often cast as pretentious or comically flawed men. More restrained dramatic work in Entre ses mains (2005) offered another use for the intensity beneath the absurd humour. That matters, because the danger with his comic casting is repetition. Another cynical, overbearing figure risks giving us little we have not already seen.
His supporting dramatic role in Coco Before Chanel (2009), alongside Audrey Tautou, is another reason not to judge him solely by the grotesques. For a gentler introduction, there is Romantics Anonymous (2010), a romantic comedy with Isabelle Carré. We would still begin with Man Bites Dog, where his charm has a precise and troubling use, and his share of the writing and direction gives us more to consider than the performance alone. Go prepared for repeated shocks, some of which the film could have done without.
Biography
Benoît Poelvoorde is a Belgian actor, comedian, screenwriter, director and producer. He was born on 22 September 1964 in Namur, Belgium. He first gained attention with the 1992 mockumentary Man Bites Dog, in which he played the lead role of Ben and shared writing, directing and producing credits with Rémy Belvaux and André Bonzel.
Poelvoorde has appeared in numerous Franco-Belgian films, including Les Randonneurs (1997), Le Vélo de Ghislain Lambert (2001), Podium (2004), Coco Before Chanel (2009), Nothing to Declare (2010), Romantics Anonymous (2010), The Brand New Testament (2015) and Sink or Swim (2018). He received the Prix Jean Gabin in 2002 and served on the Cannes Film Festival jury in 2004.
