Institute of Contemporary Arts

Animal Love

Werner Herzog declared after seeing this documentary, "Never have I looked so directly into hell." Seidl's work suggests that 'hell is us' - that we ourselves create and perpetuate our own misery. Nowhere is this felt more clearly than in this critically acclaimed, darkly humorous study of Austrian pet owners. More disquieting than perverse, the film observes those whose relationships with their four-legged friends replace, or displace, the intimacy and companionship of other human beings.

Dir Ulrich Seidl, Austria 1995, 114 mins, subtitles

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