MY DOG TULIP

MY DOG TULIP
US 2010
DIRECTORS: PAUL AND SANDRA FERLINGER
Christopher Plummer, Isabella Rossellini, and the late Lynn Redgrave provide the voices in the Ferlingers’ witty and touching animated film—“the love story of the year,” in the words of Vanity Fair. Based on J.R. Ackerley’s celebrated 1956 memoir, the film recounts the author’s 14-year relationship with an unruly, undisciplined, but beautiful Alsatian bitch. The distinguished British man of letters was well into middle age when Tulip came to him, and to his surprise, the dog turned out to be the love of his life: “She offered me what I had never found in my life with humans: constant, single-hearted, incorruptible, uncritical devotion, which it is in the nature of dogs to offer.” With its bittersweet nostalgia and frank observation of canine mating and bodily functions, MY DOG TULIP is directed toward adult audiences yet remains warm and whimsical throughout. It is also the first animated feature to be entirely hand-drawn and painted utilizing paperless computer technology. (82 mins.)