Dogs Don't Wear Pants
Theatrical release poster
FinnishKoirat eivät käytä housuja
Directed byJ-P Valkeapää
Written by
  • J-P Valkeapää
  • Juhana Lumme
Produced by
  • Aleksi Bardy
  • Helen Vinogradov
Starring
CinematographyPietari Peltola
Edited byMervi Junkkonen
Music byMichal Nejtek
Production
companies
  • Helsinki-filmi
  • Tasse Film
Distributed bySF Film Finland
Release dates
  • 21 May 2019 (2019-05-21) (Cannes)
  • 1 November 2019 (2019-11-01) (Finland)
Running time
105 minutes
CountryFinland
LanguageFinnish

Dogs Don't Wear Pants (Finnish: Koirat eivät käytä housuja) is a 2019 Finnish erotic black comedy[1] film directed by J-P Valkeapää. It was screened in the Directors' Fortnight section at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival.[2][3]

Plot

Seven years after his wife tragically drowned, heart surgeon Juha finds himself emotionally distant as he raises his teenage daughter Elli alone. He uses a dress and perfume belonging to his wife while masturbating. When a chance encounter with Mona, a dominatrix, brings him closer than ever before to feeling something again, he finds himself entering the world of BDSM. He enjoys being asphyxiated as this causes him to have hallucinations of being under water with his wife. His initial encounter appears non-consensual, with little negotiation between the two. However, Mona gives him a ball to hold when strangling him, so if he starts to lose consciousness the ball will drop and she will know to stop. He gives the woman his wife's dress and perfume to wear.

Juha walks away from his work at a hospital smashing a door when his pass card fails to work. He fails to go to his daughter's concert in favour of seeing Mona. He tricks her into continuing the asphyxiation for too long and he passes out. She gives first aid and calls an ambulance (she is a physical therapist by day, so she has medical training).

Juha's daughter arrives at the hospital, distressed. Her father says he saw her mother and tells her to leave. A work colleague tells him the Board is concerned about his behaviour and want to do a psychological evaluation on him. Whilst this conversation takes place, Juha pulls his own damaged thumb nail off.

Juha continues to pursue Mona relentlessly, but she refuses his calls. One night, Juha stalks a person he believes is Mona but is actually a man who pepper-sprays Juha. He later takes his daughter's music teacher out to dinner and gives her his wife's perfume. They end up at her place and have sex. He asks her to wear the perfume and strangle him. She goes along with this but also finds it funny.

Juha follows Mona once more, this time to her flat, where he gives her an ultimatum: she can hurt him as much as she likes, provided that she strangles him in exchange. She agrees and he follows her upstairs on all fours. She ties him up and announces she will remove one of his teeth with a pair of pliers. He initially refuses but then relents. She pulls out a tooth after some struggle. She then wraps his face in cling film. Finally, she realises that he came after her with the intention of killing himself. She frees him and starts sobbing. Juha comforts Mona and they kiss, before he slaps her. She shuts herself in another room, but by the time she returns holding his wife's dress, he has left.

Juha returns home where his daughter is absent. He finds Elli in a park, smoking, and attempts to repair their relationship by inviting her to the Natural History Museum, like they used to do on her birthday. Elli then goes off on her boyfriend's moped.

Juha hears that his psychological evaluation came back clear and he tells his colleague he lied. Later, he goes to a BDSM club, dressed in fetish gear. After a few drinks at the bar, he gets on the dance floor and enjoys himself. As Mona walks in, he grins at her and she smiles back.

Cast

Reception

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 90% based on 30 reviews, with an average rating of 7.5/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Dogs Don't Wear Pants will be too intense for many viewers, but for those who can take the punishment, there's pleasure in this stark drama's pain."[4]

References

  1. ↑ "Movie Review: Dogs Don't Wear Pants". Flickering Myth. 24 March 2020. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
  2. ↑ Keslassy, Elsa (4 April 2019). "Cannes: Deerskin With Jean Dujardin to Open Directors' Fortnight". Variety. Retrieved 19 April 2019.
  3. ↑ Goodfellow, Melanie. "Cannes Directors' Fortnight unveils genre-heavy 2019 selection". Screen Daily. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
  4. ↑ "Dogs Don't Wear Pants (2020)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 30 October 2021.
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