La Grande Bouffe (1973)
"La grande bouffe" (original title)

A group of men hire some prostitutes and go to a villa in the countryside. There, they engage in group sex and resolve to eat themselves to death.

Director:

Marco Ferreri

Writers:

Marco Ferreri (scenario & adaptation), Rafael Azcona (scenario & adaptation),

Stars:

Marcello Mastroianni, Michel Piccoli, Philippe Noiret

2 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Marcello Mastroianni	...	Marcello
Michel Piccoli	...	Michel
Philippe Noiret	...	Philippe
Ugo Tognazzi	...	Ugo
Andréa Ferréol	...	Andrea (as Andréa Ferreol)
Solange Blondeau	...	Danielle
Florence Giorgetti	...	Anne
Michèle Alexandre	...	Nicole
Monique Chaumette	...	Madeleine
Henri Piccoli	...	Hector
Maurice Dorléac
Simon Tchao
Louis Navarre	...	Braguti
Bernard Menez	...	Pierre
Cordelia Piccoli	...	Barbara

Storyline

Four successful middle-aged men Marcello, a pilot; Michel, a television executive; Ugo, a chef; and, Philippe, a judge go to Philippe's villa to eat themselves to death. After the first night, Marcello insists that women should join them. Three prostitutes make it through a day or two; Andrea, a local school teacher, stays to the end. The villa, the food, and a Bugati roadster are essential props.

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Plot Keywords:

villa | death | prostitute | chef | pilot | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated NC-17 for some explicit sexuality

Details

Country:

France Italy

Language:

French Italian

Release Date:

24 September 1973 (Italy)

Also Known As:

La gran comilona

Filming Locations:

Rue Boileau, Paris, France

Box Office

Gross:

SEK 837,872 (Sweden)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Films 66, Mara Films, Capitolina Produzioni Cinematografiche

Technical Specs

Runtime:

130 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the final scene in the garden - where Philipe is sitting on the bench, there is a poem by Dorothy Frances Gurney written on the bench. Many garden lovers have this poem written in their gardens. It says: "Kiss of the sun for pardon. Song of the birds for mirth. You're closer to God's heart in a garden than any place else on earth."

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Goofs

After Philippe says to Nicole "actor incombit probatio", a crew member can be seen in the mirror.

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Quotes

Ugo: Wanting to be Marlon Brando is vanity.

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Connections

Referenced in The Clockmaker of St. Paul (1974)

User Reviews

To Kill a Cat You Should Choke It with Cream

What can be a better protest against hedonism than to kill oneself in the most hedonistic way: to sate oneself with food and luxury and sex to death? So four old friends gather together in the luxuriant family villa belonging to the one of the participants and start devouring their way to exotic quietus, I should warn you though, the spectacle isn't for the hungry, and however difficult the task may seem it turns out to be quite feasible. What is the most great in this movie is its thick atmosphere of absurdity and surreality of everything happening on the screen and at the same time a verisimilitude of this occurrence. This movie also brilliantly managed to catch a zeitgeist of its epoch. At the time the film was announced to be a scandal of the year.