The sort of freewheeling, impressionistic, personal cinematic essay that has lately become so much in vogue, the film shamelessly juxtaposes lengthy shots of Weber's gorgeous canines frolicking on the beach with naked women and on the farm with bare-chested hunky farm boys with ruminative reflections on topics ranging from Sept. Also thrown into the mix -- which is narrated by the filmmaker in his sleepy, deep voice -- are interviews with celebrated dog lover Elizabeth Taylor; clips of the late actor Dirk Bogarde playing with his pet corgi at his home in Provence; excerpts from poems by Rilke and Spender read by Julie Christie and Marianne Faithfull; and numerous film clips from that classic canine weepie "The Courage of Lassie." Needless to say, the resulting hodgepodge, in which Weber is apparently straining to use the innocence of animals as a springboard for an exploration of modern decay, is bound to have much less significance for audiences than it does for its auteur.

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