Breakage dog: the story of the friendship between Anthony Bajon and Raphael Cuenard will soften and surprise you

Jean-Baptiste Durand’s first feature film was released in Chien de la Casse cinemas on April 19. It is worn by two rising stars of French cinema: Anthony Bajon and Raphael Quenard.

The two actors play the dog and Miralles, two childhood friends. They live in a small village in the south of France and spend most of the day on the streets. To pass the time, Miralles began teasing the dog excessively.

Their friendship is undermined by the arrival of a young girl, Elsa, in the village, with whom the dog will live a love story. Obsessed with jealousy, Mirales will have to let go of his past in order to grow up and find his place.

Wandering youths

Jean-Baptiste Durand grew up in a southern French village called Montpeyroux, next to Puget, where Chien de la Casse was filmed. The future film director was surrounded by friends who were passionate about football, rap and drawing.

When he joined the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Montpellier, he began painting friends to match the real void of representation. “I had a feeling that if you could identify a little bit with suburban movies, you didn’t identify at all with movies about the countryside, which either approached the peasant world or a bygone era.”The director explains.

Later, when Jean-Baptiste Durand started making films, it was only natural that he wanted to tell a story. “Out-of-town youth who hang out, listen to music, play ball, drink alcohol, smoke weed, fight, and only have a chair or a soccer field to change the world.”

populated actors

To interpret his two main characters, the director chose two young actors with solid performances behind them, Anthony Bajon (The Prayer) and Raphael Couinard (The Third War, Cut!). They give a feverish performance in Chien de la Casse as these two friends who are scrapped alive.

“From the first pictures of La Priere, I saw Anthony in Bajon, my dog! Besides being absolute, I discovered that this actor had an animal intelligence in relation to the body, to space, to silence.”Analyzed by Jean-Baptiste Durand.

When Rafael Cuenard camp Mirales, neurotic, tired, who does not know love. “Even if he loves his friend very much, he wants to change him, insults him and does not work for his good. The same for his world: he is bad for himself, bad for his place and looks damaged in his world, as he would be. I like to transform or leave “– says the artist.

Raphael Cuenard got in touch with the director on Facebook thanks to Fragile director Emma Benestani. At that time, the filmmaker was not yet at the casting stage. “I could see he was trying to keep up with Link, texting me regularly. In response to his insistence, I invited him to audition… and it was an epiphany!”– says the director.

“Talking to Rafael, I realized that Miralles was a guy he knew by heart, because he grew up with the same guys. He also had a similar relationship with language, because he reads bulimic, hypererudite… in short, he had it. The same double culture as mine and he seemed to me Miralesad, who would solve his problems– adds Jean-Baptiste Durand.

What does that mean, CHIEN DE LA CASSE?

Junkyard dog is an expression that originated in the suburbs. According to Jean-Baptiste Durand, the friendship between these young men evokes a master-dog relationship, a dominant/dominant relationship, but also an unwavering love, courage and an almost absurd loyalty.

“And Dumpster Dog is someone who does things for him regardless of his friends. He’s someone who never hesitates to get what he wants.”– says the director. Moreover, if the friendship between these two lively young people touches us so much, it is because of its accuracy and its realism, the realist’s credo.

“As a child, I did not notice either boredom or violence in my environment, and it was by playing these stories that I realized by looking at the audience’s gaze that my life was violent. If I understand that we can perceive this friendship as this, I find them above all honest and clumsy, they love each other badly, but deeply”– says Jean-Baptiste Durand.

Junkyard Hound hits theaters on April 19.