A Man and His Dog

Directed and co-written by Francis Huster, the 2008 French-Italian drama Un homme et son chien (A Man and His Dog) reworks Vittorio De Sica's 1952 neorealist classic Umberto D., from Cesare Zavattini's story. Where the original followed an impoverished war invalid, the remake centers on an elderly man whose pride and love of life have been wounded, played by Jean-Paul Belmondo. The part marked Belmondo's return to the screen after seven years away recovering from a stroke, and it remained his final film role before his death in 2021. Hafsia Herzi and Tchéky Karyo co-star. Premiering in November 2008 at the Sarlat Film Festival, the film opened in French cinemas in 2009 but was dismissed by critics and audiences alike, selling only around 165,000 tickets in two weeks. Co-produced by the German company Degeto, it never received a German theatrical release and surfaced only in a late-night ARD broadcast in 2010.