C'est arrivé près de chez vous (1992)

Directors:

Rémy Belvaux
André Bonzel
(more)

Writers:

Rémy Belvaux (story)
Rémy Belvaux (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

15 January 1993 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Drama | Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

A Killer Comedy

Plot:

A camera crew follows a serial killer/thief around as he exercises his craft. He expounds on art, music...

Plot Keywords:

Controversy | Shootout | Sound Man | Eccentric | Bare Breasts

Awards:

6 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Benoît Poelvoorde	...	Ben
Jacqueline Poelvoorde-Pappaert	...	Ben's Mother
Nelly Pappaert	...	Ben's Grandmother
Hector Pappaert	...	Ben's Grandfather
Jenny Drye	...	Jenny
Malou Madou	...	Malou
Willy Vandenbroeck	...	Boby
Rachel Deman	...	Mamie Tromblon
André Laime	...	Bed-ridden Old Man
Édith Le Merdy	...	Nurse
Sylviane Godé	...	Rape Victim (Martine)
Zoltan Tobolik	...	Rape Victim's Husband
Valérie Parent	...	Valerie
Alexandra Fandango	...	Kalifa
Olivier Cotica	...	Benichou
Rémy Belvaux	...	Remy (Reporter)
André Bonzel	...	Andre (Cameraman)
Jean-Marc Chenut	...	Patrick (Sound Man #1)
Alain Oppezzi	...	Franco (Sound Man #2)
Vincent Tavier	...	Vincent (Sound Man #3)
Gina Cotica	...	Mother
Ricardo Cotica	...	Child
Pierre Vanbraekel	...	Father
Marcel Engels	...	Cameraman
Franco Piscopo	...	Sound Recordist
Venelin Poikov	...	First Postman
Alain François	...	Video Reporter
Fernaud Dubois	...	Postman
Antoine Chapelot	...	Wine Waiter
Hughes Tavier	...	Buffet Waiter
Pol Vanderwarren	...	Ben's Lawyer
Anne LaGrange	...	Journalist
Paul Bottemanne	...	Taxi Driver
Vincent Merveille	...	Boxer
Irene Gilissen	...	Lady on Train
Sabine Tavier	...	Madame Pipi
Annamaria Szomolanyiova	...	Violinist
Carlos Campo Miranda	...	Night Watchman
Pascal Lebrun	...	Featured Victim
Stephanie Aubier	...	Featured Victim
Alain Hologne	...	Featured Victim
Micheline Hologne	...	Featured Victim
Philippe Blasband	...	Featured Victim
Aldo Fostier	...	Featured Victim
Jean-Pol Cavillot	...	Featured Victim
Anny Nologne	...	Featured Victim
Elaine Leonard	...	Featured Victim
Marie Travier	...	Featured Victim
Bruno Belvaux	...	Featured Victim
Lucien Belvaux	...	Featured Victim
Jean-Claude Maschetti	...	Featured Victim
Laurence D'Hondt	...	Journalist
Daniel Tursh	...	Journalist
Benoît Mariage	...	Journalist
Emmanuelle Bada	...	Journalist
Stéphane Aubier	...	Journalist
Jean-Paul Geets	...	Malou's Customer
Clotilde Francois	...	Victim in Montage (scenes deleted)
Steven Artels	...	Victim in Montage (scenes deleted)
Bertrand Tavier	...	Victim in Montage (scenes deleted)
Bob Lens	...	Victim in Montage (scenes deleted)
Josephs Craeynest	...	Victim in Montage (scenes deleted)
Willy Van De Waele	...	Victim in Montage (scenes deleted)
Andre Kuys	...	Victim in Montage (scenes deleted)
Patrick Goisse	...	Victim in Montage (scenes deleted)

Directed by
Rémy Belvaux
André Bonzel
Benoît Poelvoorde

Writing credits
Rémy Belvaux		(story)
Rémy Belvaux		(screenplay) &
André Bonzel		(screenplay) &
Benoît Poelvoorde		(screenplay) &
Vincent Tavier		(screenplay)

Produced by
Rémy Belvaux	....	producer
André Bonzel	....	producer
Benoît Poelvoorde	....	producer

Original Music by
Jean-Marc Chenut
Laurence Dufrene

Cinematography by
André Bonzel

Film Editing by
Rémy Belvaux
Eric Dardill

Other crew
Valérie Parent	....	script supervisor

Production Companies

• Les Artistes Anonymes

Distributors

• Acteurs Auteurs Associés (AAA) (1992) (France) (theatrical)
• Roxie Releasing (1993) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Tartan Video (1993) (UK) (video) (laserdisc)
• Criterion Collection, The (1994) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Tartan Video (1996) (UK) (video) (laserdisc)
• Criterion Collection, The (1998) (USA) (DVD)
• Siren Visual Entertainment (2001-????) (Australia) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Oro Films S.A. (????) (Spain) (theatrical)
• Palisades Tartan (2009) (UK) (all media)

Other Companies

• Dolby Laboratories  sound post-production

Also Known As:

Man Bites Dog (UK) (USA)
It Happened in Your Neighborhood (Belgium: English title)
Man Bites Dog: It Happened in Your Neighborhood (International: English title) (informal title)
Aconteceu Perto da sua Casa (Brazil) [pt]
Anthropos dagonei skylo (Greece) [el]
Czlowiek pogryzl psa (Poland) [pl]
Il Cameraman e l'assassino (Italy) [it]
Man Bites Dog - ammatti: tappaja (Finland) [fi]
Mann beißt Hund (Germany) [de]
Manual de Instruções para Crimes Banais (Portugal) [pt]
Ocurrió cerca de su casa (Spain) [es]
Sucedió cerca de su casa (Argentina) [es]
Zgodilo se je cisto blizu vas (Slovenia) [sl]

MPAA:

Rated NC-17 for strong graphic violence.

Runtime:

95 min | USA:92 min (edited version)

Country:

Belgium

Language:

French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-18 (cut) (1997) | Finland:K-18 (uncut) (1993) | USA:NC-17 (appeal) | Iceland:16 | Australia:R | Argentina:18 | Singapore:R21 | Canada:16+ (Quebec) | Canada:18+ (Quebec) (Original rating) | France:-12 | Germany:18 | Ireland:(Banned) (original rating) | Ireland:18 (re-rating) | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R18 | Norway:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:(Banned) | UK:18 | USA:Unrated (cut)

Filming Locations:

Brussels, Brussels-Capital, Belgium

Company:

Les Artistes Anonymes

Trivia:

The filmmakers were very nervous while shooting the rape scene. The actress who played the rape victim was very supportive of cause of the film, however, and let the filmmakers do their thing. This gave comfort to the crew; especially Rémy Belvaux, who was very shy about his nude scene.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Ben has suffocated the little kid by putting a pillow on his face, the body stops stumbling and is supposedly dead, but the chest still makes breathing movements.

Quotes:

Ben: If you kill a whale, you get Greenpeace and Jacques Cousteau on your back, but wipe out sardines and you get a canning subsidy!

Movie Connections:

References This Is Spinal Tap (1984)

Is it real? Is it a movie? What's the difference?

Man Bites Dog (C'est arrivé près de chez vous).

To say this movie is disturbing would be an understatement. A massive, gigantic understatement! But it is also a display of film-genius.

The movie is filmed in Black and White and is presented as a "documentary" of a serial killer. The film crew follows Benoit, the killer, around town as he recites poetry, muses on welfare and housing reform, ponders philosophy, and ... well, kills. Totally randomly.

He explains to the film crew the lessons he has learned about killing, how to stay low key, who to go after, and what potential victims are a waste of time. For Benoit, killing is an art form, but not one that should be undertaken frivolously.

There are scenes when his lunacy are briefly pierced by humanity - he counsels one of the film crew not to kill, because once you start it becomes a habit. In another scene he laments having killed a suburban family, because they had nothing good to steal, as it turned out. He proclaims that "there should be a law against" killing for no good reason.

Those who shy from blood and killing - about the most graphical violence you'll ever see "documented" in a film - should shy from this movie. But anyone with an interest in a glimpse at the darkest side of human nature will appreciate this film, not necessarily for its story or its darkness, but for its ability to make us think, and open our eyes to human behaviour we don't like to admit might exist.

During the course of the movie you become totally numb to the act of killing (or maming or torture or rape or any violent crime). It is no longer shocking when he kills yet another victim. It has become commonplace. You just sort of scratch your head and wonder - why this one? why now? why him? why her? This mental numbness is made possible by the way it is filmed - as though it were a documentary. Not long into the movie you begin to wonder if this is real, or just a movie. I wonder if this is the kind of numbness that soldiers experienced in wars like WWI, entrenched and under constant fire - to where the violence around become the norm. I read a book once called "My War Gone By, I Miss it So" (that's a whole 'nother review) in which a war-writer kept returning to the front because after experiencing violence all around him day after day after day, he could no longer live without it. In Man Bites Dog the killing is Benoit's addiction, but we, as viewers become complacent to it. We have been numbed to where it is no longer disturbing. Makes you scratch your head and wonder: is such detachment from emotion and what's right really possible???

To add to the realism, all the actors play characters with their real names. The killer's mother and grandparents in the movie - are really the actor's mother and grandparents in real life. During most of the filming they were not told it was about serial killing, just that they were in a movie with their son. So they just act normal around the son they love, only to find out in later scenes that the whole film is about killing. Imagine the look of shock on their faces to find this out - to them the story then is no longer acting but real: they've just discovered their son/grandson made a film about brutal killings and the shock shows in their faces.

Is it real? Is it a movie? What defines the difference?

When I told him about this movie, a friend mentioned that "society,as a whole, is already numb to brutal killing and violence." He's right about that. But this movie is so ridiculously brutal and violent it is more a mockery of our society's complacence to violence, not an endorsement.