Delicatessen (1991)

Post-apocalyptic surrealist black comedy about the landlord of an apartment building who occasionally prepares a delicacy for his odd tenants.

Directors:

Marc Caro, Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Writers:

Jean-Pierre Jeunet (screenplay), Marc Caro (screenplay)

Stars:

Marie-Laure Dougnac, Dominique Pinon, Pascal Benezech

Nominated for 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 15 wins & 14 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Pascal Benezech	...	Tried to Escape
Dominique Pinon	...	Louison
Marie-Laure Dougnac	...	Julie Clapet
Jean-Claude Dreyfus	...	Clapet
Karin Viard	...	Mademoiselle Plusse
Ticky Holgado	...	Marcel Tapioca
Anne-Marie Pisani	...	Madame Tapioca
Boban Janevski	...	Young Rascal
Mikael Todde	...	Young Rascal (as Mikaël Todde)
Edith Ker	...	Grandmother
Rufus	...	Robert Kube
Jacques Mathou	...	Roger
Howard Vernon	...	Frog Man
Chick Ortega	...	Postman
Silvie Laguna	...	Aurore Interligator

Storyline

Centered on a post-apocalyptic society where food is scrarce and used as currency. In an apartment building with a delicatessen on the ground floor. The owner of the eatery also owns the apartment building and is in need of a new maintenance man since the prior one "mysteriously" disappeared. A former clown applies for the job and the butcher's intent is to have him work for as little as possible, and then serve him to odd tenants who pay the butcher in grain. The clown and butcher's daughter fall in love and she tries to foil her father's plans by contacting the "troglodytes", a grain eating sub-group of society who live entirely underground.

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Plot Keywords:

black comedy | absurd comedy | surrealist | bed | roof | 

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Taglines:

A futuristic comic feast

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence

Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

3 April 1992 (USA)

Also Known As:

Delicatessen

Filming Locations:

France

Box Office

Budget:

FRF 24,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$1,794,187

Company Credits

Production Co:

Constellation, Union Générale Cinématographique (UGC), Hachette Première

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Jean-Pierre Jeunet got the idea for a cannibal butcher when living in an apartment above a butcher's shop. Each morning at 7am he would hear the metallic clash of knives and a voice shout, "Chop chop!" His girlfriend said he was carving up the neighbors, and it would be their turn next week.

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Goofs

When Julie first invites Louison to her house, she accidentally throws a vase to the floor. There is no "crash" sound when the vase is destroyed.

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Quotes

Louison: Dr Livingstone... He was my partner.
Julie Clapet: Where is he now?
Louison: He disappeared one night, after a show. We only found his remains... They ate him! Can you believe that? They ate him!

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Crazy Credits

In the opening credits, crew members' names appear on objects that the camera tracks across: the director of photography's name appears on a camera, the composer's name on a broken 12" record, etc.

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Connections

Features Dreams of Old Hawaii (1944)

User Reviews

Only the French could have pulled this off

`The French,' said James Russell Lowell, `are the most wonderful creatures for talking wisely and acting foolishly that I ever saw.' And good old Henry Adams once said that what he disliked most about the French was their mind, their way of thinking. Why? Because, he said, the French were not serious.

France is not serious. It's an insult; and, it's a compliment. Once their proclivity for playing `Sidewalk Socrates' is understood, one can begin to enjoy them. Henry Adams loved Paris when he got past the surface: `France was not serious, and he [Adams] was not serious in going there.'

I say this by way of introduction to the French movie Delicatessen because, frankly, most French movies really bite. They have that bottom of the birdcage quality, which comes from trying too hard to be deep and philosophical, coming off as ineffably silly instead.

Delicatessen avoids all of that because it doesn't try to be serious. There's nothing pretentious about it. But it could be. It's an outrageously funny black comedy. Only the French, with the penchant for speaking wisely, and acting foolishly, could have pulled this off. It's almost a satirical caricature of French society as a whole.

Set in an apartment complex with a ground floor delicatessen, drifters check in, but don't check out – that is, until a former circus clown shows up. The owner's daughter and the erstwhile circus performer fall in love, throwing her father's brutally perfected supply `system' (fresh meat) all out of whack. The `process,' it seems, cannot tolerate exceptions to the rule, especially not such impractical sentiments as love.

Delicatessen has some outrageously comical setups. And best of all, the inhabitants are all laughable, each in their own way, from the murderous landlord, to his delicate little daughter named Julie. I won't spoil the fun for you by telling you any more. I urge you to find out for yourself.