Delicatessen (1991)
Language:French
Director: Jean Paul Jeunet, Marc Caro
Actors:Jean Claude Dreyfus, Dominique Pinon, Marie-Laure Dougnac,Karin Viard
A dark(both in theme and setting) comedy set in a post-apocalytic France with rampant food, water and housing shortages. The hero(Pinon) is an out-of-work joker [ mainly because his partner, a chimp, was eaten up by hungry hordes] looking both for work and a place to stay. Answering an ad placed in the papers, he arrives at the hotel/hostel owned and run by the butcher(Dreyfus). Accepted on arrival and given a room and board, with the condition that he work as an odd-job man for the building, he takes up residence. Little does he realise that his predecessor in the same position was fattened up and then killed to be fed, as meat, to the apartment building's residents. For food shortages and the climate are so bad that no vegetables grow and even if they do, are too exorbtantly priced for common consumption.
The directors don't dwell on what caused the catastrophe, teasing us instead with glimpses of how totally society has collapsed: the cannibalism of the apartment seems like an accepted practice and very few, if any, have serious qualms about it; the atmosphere is smoky and dark, with only shaded glimpses of the sun; there is a revolution underway in opposition to the Government, lead by the Frogmen who live in the sewers of the city this is set in( mostly Paris).
The residents of the building are also character studies in themsleves - the family with their two rascally kids and a grandmother; the couple with the neurotic wife supposedly imagining voices instructing her to commit suicide and the husband in love with her; the butcher's daughter(Dougnac) who is disgusted by but powerless to stop the cannibalism; the two tradesmen- one of whom is secretly in love with the neurotic woman; and the sultry vixen( Karin Viard in a sumptuous performance) who pays for her rent and food by granting the butcher/owner sexual favours.
The clown enters this milieu and soon, through his charm and manners, as also the sympathy she feels for his intended fate, has won over the butcher's daughter. [There are episodes in between furhter fleshing out the building's characters, especially the butcher's and the quasi-moral dilemmas he faces and his justifications when his daughter confronts him with how horrible his policy is. His meditations on his options and motives are true enough and might drive most of us when faced with as big a crisis of survival as in the movie -food for thought here] This is where the movie gets interesting - Dougnac devises a plot to save the clown but, watching him get friendly with Viard, calls it off. However, the plan, set in motion with the Frogmen's help, is too far advanced to be called off but goes awry. :)
The extended denouement, totally harebrained and thrilling at the same time, ties up most loose ends and saves Pinon for his heroine and from the butcher's cleaver. The movie ends on a positive note with Pinon and Dougnac playing the cello on the rooftop as the air finally begins to clear, a sign of chaging winds and times.
All in all, though a bit long, the movie's characters are all finely sketched - no one-dimensional characters here. And each character, from the neurotic woman to the butcher, is given enough space to develop and, if not convince, at least evince sympathy from us for their characters. The directors also pose and raise profound questions on how present-day society would function, if at all, in a post-apocalyptic world and how most of what we do now is dependent on such a frail foundation. Food for thought, certainly. The masterstroke of the directors, though, is that they blend all this seamlessly with comedy - from Dougnac's shortsighted fumblings when she tries to win Pinon over( and his attempts to help her) and the Frogmen's absolute ineptness and adherence to near-schoolboyish ideas of how to conduct operations in secret. lol moments abound , side by side with sit-up-straight-and- think-what-you'd-do-in-this-situation-before-judging moments. Food for thought and ammo for laughter, with a yummy Karin Viard thrown in for good measure - me likey! Go watch this movie, people!
P.S: Random trivia - Jeunet, one of the directors, is also the director of Amelie - another awesome French movie that blends comedy, romance and philosophy.
Language:French
Director: Jean Paul Jeunet, Marc Caro
Actors:Jean Claude Dreyfus, Dominique Pinon, Marie-Laure Dougnac,Karin Viard
A dark(both in theme and setting) comedy set in a post-apocalytic France with rampant food, water and housing shortages. The hero(Pinon) is an out-of-work joker [ mainly because his partner, a chimp, was eaten up by hungry hordes] looking both for work and a place to stay. Answering an ad placed in the papers, he arrives at the hotel/hostel owned and run by the butcher(Dreyfus). Accepted on arrival and given a room and board, with the condition that he work as an odd-job man for the building, he takes up residence. Little does he realise that his predecessor in the same position was fattened up and then killed to be fed, as meat, to the apartment building's residents. For food shortages and the climate are so bad that no vegetables grow and even if they do, are too exorbtantly priced for common consumption.
The directors don't dwell on what caused the catastrophe, teasing us instead with glimpses of how totally society has collapsed: the cannibalism of the apartment seems like an accepted practice and very few, if any, have serious qualms about it; the atmosphere is smoky and dark, with only shaded glimpses of the sun; there is a revolution underway in opposition to the Government, lead by the Frogmen who live in the sewers of the city this is set in( mostly Paris).
The residents of the building are also character studies in themsleves - the family with their two rascally kids and a grandmother; the couple with the neurotic wife supposedly imagining voices instructing her to commit suicide and the husband in love with her; the butcher's daughter(Dougnac) who is disgusted by but powerless to stop the cannibalism; the two tradesmen- one of whom is secretly in love with the neurotic woman; and the sultry vixen( Karin Viard in a sumptuous performance) who pays for her rent and food by granting the butcher/owner sexual favours.
The clown enters this milieu and soon, through his charm and manners, as also the sympathy she feels for his intended fate, has won over the butcher's daughter. [There are episodes in between furhter fleshing out the building's characters, especially the butcher's and the quasi-moral dilemmas he faces and his justifications when his daughter confronts him with how horrible his policy is. His meditations on his options and motives are true enough and might drive most of us when faced with as big a crisis of survival as in the movie -food for thought here] This is where the movie gets interesting - Dougnac devises a plot to save the clown but, watching him get friendly with Viard, calls it off. However, the plan, set in motion with the Frogmen's help, is too far advanced to be called off but goes awry. :)
The extended denouement, totally harebrained and thrilling at the same time, ties up most loose ends and saves Pinon for his heroine and from the butcher's cleaver. The movie ends on a positive note with Pinon and Dougnac playing the cello on the rooftop as the air finally begins to clear, a sign of chaging winds and times.
All in all, though a bit long, the movie's characters are all finely sketched - no one-dimensional characters here. And each character, from the neurotic woman to the butcher, is given enough space to develop and, if not convince, at least evince sympathy from us for their characters. The directors also pose and raise profound questions on how present-day society would function, if at all, in a post-apocalyptic world and how most of what we do now is dependent on such a frail foundation. Food for thought, certainly. The masterstroke of the directors, though, is that they blend all this seamlessly with comedy - from Dougnac's shortsighted fumblings when she tries to win Pinon over( and his attempts to help her) and the Frogmen's absolute ineptness and adherence to near-schoolboyish ideas of how to conduct operations in secret. lol moments abound , side by side with sit-up-straight-and- think-what-you'd-do-in-this-situation-before-judging moments. Food for thought and ammo for laughter, with a yummy Karin Viard thrown in for good measure - me likey! Go watch this movie, people!
P.S: Random trivia - Jeunet, one of the directors, is also the director of Amelie - another awesome French movie that blends comedy, romance and philosophy.
