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 welcomes Louison in her room and we see her following him to the table she has no socks, when she brings him later into his room after he has fallen asleep she has socks.

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Quotes

Louison: Nobody is entirely evil: it's that circumstances that make them evil, or they don't know they are doing evil.

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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

Referenced in Twelve Monkeys (1995)

User Reviews

Masterpiece

If Citizen Kane is the number one movie to see to learn anything about cinematography, this might as well be at number 2.

Delicatessen succeeds at creating a totally separate, consistent and believable universe with a very distinct atmosphere. The brown and green colors add to the weirdness of this universe.

Is it horror? Yes and no. Is it a comedy? Yes and no. Is it brilliant? Oh yes!

Everybody involved in the making of this picture gave it its best. The camera work is brilliant, the sets are simply amazing (with the final bathroom scene at the pinnacle), the editing and pace is breathtaking.

This could have been a very dark movie (and I guess a few Hollywood directors would have tried to turn it into a splatter movie and fail miserably), but the humor is just light, off-beat and hilarious enough to make it into a consistent and bearable whole. Every universe has its humor, and a strange universe has strange humor. Jacques Tati would have loved Delicatessen.

Julie's 'tea ceremony' without her glasses, the mattress spring test, Aurore's failing suicide contraptions, it's all funny as hell. I hope everyone who is even marginally involved in making movies gets to see Delicatessen and learns from its greatness. We could sure use a touch of genius in most of them ...

10/10