Like an Animal

Charlotte Dumas is a young artist, a photographer taking pictures of animals. She makes portraits, but is not concerned with any specific animal or species. The issue is how a spectator looks at the animal. A photo is a kind of mirror. The observer projects his expectations, his needs, his ideas on it. What he sees is his interpretation. There is an exchange of features that completely passes over the animal itself. Only at second sight you see the subject: an animal. The documentary is a travelogue and a ramble with Charlotte Dumas when she photographs circus animals. The film and her pictures reveal and explore different relationships between man and animal. The first impression of her work yields a remarkably noble image of the animal. Her photographs are often characterised as metaphorical portraits or mythical ideas. The documentary shares her fascination with a romantic tendency to use animals for human emotions.