Baxter

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Baxter Photos

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Movie Info

The French-filmed Baxter is based on the American novel Hell Hound. The title character is a bull terrier, who in the course of the film has many masters--and for good reason. Baxter has been instrumental in the deaths or serious injuries of most of the human beings who've come in contact with him. The dog's latest owner is a young neo-Nazi. nd Baxter makes it quite clear (to the audience at least) what he has in store for this fellow. Don't be misled by the title or the fact that the leading character is a dog with a full range of human emotions; Baxter is not a family film.

Rating:

R (for some language, violent images and sexual content.)
Genre:

Art House & International, Comedy, Drama, Horror
Directed By:

Jérôme Boivin, Jérôme Boivin
Written By:

Jacques Audiard, Jérôme Boivin
In Theaters:

Nov 7, 1990 limited
On Disc/Streaming:

Jul 17, 2007
Runtime:

82 minutes
Studio:

Backstreet Films

Cast

Lise Delamare
as Madame Deville

Jean Mercure
as Mons. Cuzzo

Jacques Spiesser
as Michel Ferrer

Catherine Ferran
as Florence Morel

Jean-Paul Roussillon
as Joseph Barsky

Sabrina Leurquin
as Noelle

Daniel Rialet
as Jean

Evelyne Didi
as Marie Cuzzo

Francois Liancourt

Maxime Leroux
as Baxter

Eve Ziberlin
as Veronique

Rémy Carpentier

Francois Driancourt
as Charles

Jany Gastaldi

Malcolm Scrannage

Malcom Scrannage

Léa Gabriele

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Critic Reviews for Baxter

All Critics (6) | Fresh (5) | Rotten (1)

Nominally a black comedy, but is one of those films where the horror of the situation outweighs any desire you have to laugh.

Feb 28, 2002 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…

Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
Goatdog's Movies

View All Critic Reviews (6)

Audience Reviews for Baxter

Feb 02, 2016

A bizarre film chronicling the life and death of a bull terrier who seeks to find the perfect owner. Baxter is a coming of age film for a dog with some really disturbing elements, I wouldn't consider it as a black comedy, just a dark satire of fascism. It's a fascinating film about the comparison of human nature and animalistic instinct.

Sylvester K Super Reviewer
Aug 15, 2009

delayed seeing this b/c it looked gimmicky (a cross btw Look Who's Talking 3 and Henry:Portrait of a Serial Killer) and trivializing of Nazism; but the dog's monologues play a supporting role to the ordinary traumas of the human characters, which include old people who let themselves go, the middle-aged people who experience disappointments in love and family life, and a desensitized kid who fixates on Hitler's mass-destructive suicide as an alternative to complete coldness; the colors and light are perfect and the the movie never becomes bleak or fatalistic; it ends up an interesting commentary on the constant temptation of nihilism, and fascism as one response to the temptation; Baxter is trapped by his nature, and the movie produces a sympathy for that more than for the child sociopath, who makes choice after choice to hate, worship force and cause pain One charming thing is that the dog's dialogue plays at the edge of realism in paraphrasing what a dog feels and can revisit in memory -- granted, at the end he starts meditating on death and the change of seasons.

Adam M Super Reviewer
Jun 27, 2008

A lot to say about racism, and the human condition. It's not a comedy, its deep drama.

Anthony V Super Reviewer
Apr 11, 2008

Baxter is a bit of a K-9 sociopath. But the film is shot in such a way that you really feel like he's a "troubled youth" going from one 'foster home' to the next. No one every really knowing the 'real' baxter. Ultimately it is a very moving tale of 'the human conditon' through the eyes of a dog. Another very human lesson learned here (the hard way) is that sometimes the thing that we think we want/need most...might not actually be the thing that fullfills us, or makes feel whole.

Robert C Super Reviewer