When an angelic choir sweetly sings, “you smell my ass, I’ll smell yours,” it becomes the perfect introduction to both the beautiful and base elements in the film My Dog Tulip. The animated feature, directed by Paul and Sandra Fierlinger, is a handcrafted film of great tenderness and acuity. Inspired by J. R. Ackerley’s 1956 memoir of the same name, the film chronicles the relationship between Ackerley and his difficult but loyal German Shepherd Tulip.
Rescued at 18 months old, Tulip is affectionate and protective but also maladjusted. Ackerley, an aging writer and editor voiced by Christopher Plummer, gently and haphazardly begins to tame Tulip and envelops her into his life as both pet and companion. He watches her with a reserved fascination journaling her actions and missteps. Throughout her transformation, Ackerley fawns over Tulip with a paternal presence, defending her from the sneers of street vendors, neighbors, and family. Frequented by a sister Nancy (voiced by Lynn Redgrave) and a gentle veterinarian (Isabella Rossellini), Ackerley and Tulip form a bond of mutual respect and affection arguably more steadfast than any human companion Ackerley may have imagined for himself in his golden years.
This bond extends to the intimacy and care with which Ackerley describes Tulip’s metamorphosis from disgruntled dog to loyal friend. This level of detail is also present in Ackerley’s nonchalant yet vivid characterization of Tulip’s poop. Never has the description of animal excrement sounded more eloquent. Ackerley continually muses in a droll yet eager English accent about urine, anal glands, and dog sex. He celebrates, with rich but terse language, all the reverence he feels for Tulip’s bowels. Ackerley is sweetly enchanted by her menstruation and later becomes committed to assisting her in an inevitably failed mating appointment with an Alsatian suitor. This desire to create a full life for Tulip, filled with the pleasures of family and love, knows few limits and is a touching if not unexpected accommodation on Ackerley’s part.
This sentiment is also mirrored in the gestural visuals. The Fierlingers share custody of the narrative with Ackerley’s original text by dividing and highlighting the story through the entirely hand-drawn animation styles. The relative clarity of the image correlates to the precision of Ackerley’s descriptions and memories. In these instances, in which the animation style is most naturalistic, he is given to direct address. In other sequences, the story or flashback is told through voice-over and consequently with more impressionistic illustrations. In Ackerley’s imaginative daydreams, Tulip is drawn through playful sketches on yellow notebook paper that come alive with wit and humor.
The film is disarming. As it resists personifying Tulip, the film instead relishes in her canine qualities, allowing for Tulip’s displays of animal charisma to bring charm and pleasure to the viewer. The potential sentimentality is tempered with a reserved honesty that lets the observations ring true instead of trite. As Ackerley notes, it is “the incorruptible devotion” between man and beast that ultimately provides for warm moments, funny frustrations, and a subtly instructive tone, gleaning lessons of respect, compromise and forgiveness.
