This is the story of a woman who does not give up while having this quality: doubting and listening too much to her heart swinging. We have known her presence, her fantasy, her crazy audacity and the tremors that go with it for more than 10 years.
At the beginning, Laetitia Dosch was at the heart of “La bataille de Solférino”, Justine Triet’s first film. In the theater, she created shows whose titles say a lot “Laetitia fait péter”, or even “Hate”, incredible duet that she composed with a horse, present on stage with her.
There was also “Passion Simple” by Danielle Arbid, adapted from the novel by Annie Ernaux and most recently “Le Roman de Jim”, by the Larrieux brothers. Next week her own film, “Le procès du Chien” is coming out, in which she plays a lawyer who listens a lot to the desires of others. Before giving space to her own.
“The Dog’s Trial” is a comedy that tells of secrets, pleasures and sufferings. Laetitia Dosch receives me at her home in the northeast of Paris and she is worried. Instant coffee is all she has in the kitchen first thing in the morning.
She discovered herself to be “choosable”
At first, Laetitia Dosch wanted to become a translator, to translate English literature into French. She had already done a little bit of stage work. She says: “I saw what it brought me, how happy I was. But I didn’t think I could be chosen. You have to be chosen in this profession. I didn’t think I was eligible for the role. And then, it so happened that I met an actor, I can say it, who was Guillaume Depardieu, with whom I lived for two years. And it was he who told me, you’re totally eligible for the role, go for it.”
“The Trial of the Dog”, her first film
Cosmos the dog enters the courtroom on a leash. He is accused of biting a woman in the face and disfiguring her. He faces permanent sedation, and therefore death. Avril Luciani (played by Laetitia Dosch), defines herself as a lawyer for lost causes, and will ensure her defense. In court, she stands alongside the master of Cosmos, played by François Damiens.
The guest explains that we don’t know if she will win or lose this fight, that is to say save this dog, but she will understand things through him, she will find her way, she will find what drives her. “It’s a film about the excluded, a bit. People who are not in their place, but who create it.” Laetitia Dosch chose to make a comedy on a subject that speaks of each person’s place in society, that speaks of our relationships with animals, that speaks of a woman who finds her voice in every sense of the word.
The challenge for her was that the film be simple, funny and at the same time talk about feminism, about violence. Then, she also wanted to transform her anxieties, her fears, her sometimes somewhat desperate questions into strength.
How did she experience it?
In enthusiasm and demand. Laetitia Dosch: “I am very, very demanding of myself and of others, while trying to be kind to others. But sometimes I am not kind to myself. And I didn’t want to give up, to make the best film possible, like all the people who do that. And indeed, it’s very demanding. I sometimes put myself in impossible states, at home, alone.” She adds that it was completely different on set: “It was easy. I was really well surrounded. It was at home, I knew it. It was more post-production, editing, sound editing. When you look at what you have and you try to make a film out of it. I didn’t know you could make 45, in fact.”
She says she is influenced by the way others look at her in her way of speaking, and it is undoubtedly something feminine, for her: “Women feel they have to respond to a lot of data, to a specification. This sometimes prevents them from speaking as they are. Because they are too afraid of what it will create in the person opposite them. But maybe it is not women and it is everyone. They are afraid of disappointing, well, me, in any case, let’s say me. When I speak, I make a lot of assumptions, guesses about how the person will feel about what I’m saying, how I’m saying it, and what they would like to hear.“
-> To find out more, listen to this fascinating interview…
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Musical programming
- KAROL G – If I had met you before
- MALIK DJOUDI – Come on, let’s take our time
