PRINCE: when a dog becomes the centre of a family war

There are films that immediately catch your attention because of the director, the cast or the subject. And then there are films like Prince, where you read the premise and simply think: okay, I need to understand what is going on here.

Directed by Federico Borgia, Prince follows a prize-winning Afghan hound living a rather luxurious life in Punta del Este. He is loved, spoiled and very much at the centre of his owner’s world. But when the family dynamics begin to change, Prince suddenly becomes much more than a dog. He becomes something people want to claim.

And I think that is probably the part of the film that interests me the most. Because the idea sounds almost ridiculous at first — a family fighting over a dog — but family arguments rarely stay only about the thing they are supposedly arguing about.

Money, inheritance, status, affection, resentment. And that very strange line between loving someone, or something ,and wanting to possess it.

There is something quite funny about seeing all of that projected onto an Afghan hound who, presumably, has absolutely no interest in anybody’s family drama.

Prince is having its World Premiere at the 70th BFI London Film Festival.