AllMovie

The love between humans and their pets takes a darker turn in this Austrian documentary that is as disturbing as it is provocative. While not exactly delving into actual bestiality, filmmaker Ulrich Seidl takes viewers upsettingly close as he examines the reasons why some people are able to be more intimate with their dogs than with other people. There is something grotesque and decidedly unsympathetic about the way Seidl chooses to portray his lonely subjects and their pets. Some of the relationships are maternal, some romantic, and some almost sexual.