Rohan Jain
Directed by Christophe Charrier, Netflix’s ‘The Lost Patient‘ is a French psychological thriller film based on the eponymous comic by Timothé Le Boucher. The story is about Thomas, who wakes up from a coma after 3 years and doesn’t remember anything. A psychologist named Anna Kieffer informs Thomas about his family’s murder and says he is the only one who survived the attack. The two go down a path to find out who kills Thomas’ family and the whereabouts of his missing sister, Laura.
One of the intriguing subplots of the film involves a barking dog. In one scene, when Thomas sits with his family, they hear their neighbor’s dog barking continuously. In another scene, when Dylan smokes by the window, he hears the dog and inquires about it. Later the family discovers that the dog has been killed. So, who killed the dog? Was the killing connected to the non-stop barks? Well, let us find out!
Who Killed the Dog? Why Was He Always Barking?
The dog is constantly barking because he might have rabies. So, Thomas most likely puts it to sleep after Dylan mentions that it is annoying. However, the actual reason behind the killing is much more profound. Being neglected since childhood, Thomas felt an acute pain that affected his psyche. As the psychologist Anna mentions, Thomas turned his pain into violence. When Dylan says that his mother is dying and starts to cry, Thomas feels sad for him.
Although Thomas is jealous of how Betty treats Dylan, for a moment, he feels sympathy for his cousin. Thomas equates Dylan’s pain of losing his mom to his pain of being neglected by his own mother. So, Thomas decides to help Dylan in the only way he knows and kills the dog. Thus, no more barking will annoy Dylan or anyone else in the house. However, the next day, when Betty and Marc discover what Thomas did and confront him about it, he denies it.
Thomas never admits his actions because, in his own eyes, he is a good person. In fact, he shows the same trait while regaining his memories. Thomas’ mind knows that he has committed a crime but also believes that he is innocent. So, in all of Thomas’ visions, his mind portrays an imaginary Laura as a bad person with behavioral issues. Thomas’ denial turns into false memories when his crime becomes more gruesome.
Thomas has violent nature and suffers from a pathological condition. Although the film doesn’t explicitly reveal his deed, several instances prove he killed the dog. Thomas knows where his father has hidden the gun and tells Dylan he possesses the bullets. In the same conversation, when Dylan mentions that the dog’s barking sound is annoying, Thomas nods. His expression indicates that he knows how to solve the problem. The next day, when Dylan and Thomas see their neighbor hugging the dead dog, Dylan seems sad about it. In contrast, Thomas’ resigned expression indicates he had killed the dog.
Read More: The Lost Patient Ending Explained
