Delicatessen (1991)

Delicatessen (1991) (DVD) (*)

~~$22.99~~ $16.97

Screened, competed or awarded at:
BAFTA Awards
Catalonian International Film Festival
Ceasar Awards
European Film Awards
Fantasporto Awards
Other Film Festival Awards

Language Selections:
Dutch ( Subtitles )
English ( Subtitles )
French ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )
German ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )
German ( Subtitles )
Italian ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )
Italian ( Subtitles )
Portuguese ( Subtitles )
Spanish ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )
Spanish ( Subtitles )

Product Origin/Format:
United Kingdom ( PAL/Region 2 )

Running Time:
95 min

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen (1.85:1)

Special Features:
Commentary
Interactive Menu
Making Of
Scene Access
Teaser(s)
Trailer(s)

Movie filmed in 1991 and produced in:
France ( France, Benelux )

Directed By:
Marc Caro
Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Written By:
Gilles Adrien

Actors:
Pascal Benezech ..... ried to Escape
Dominique Pinon ..... ouison
Marie-Laure Dougnac ..... ulie Clapet
Jean-Claude Dreyfus ..... lapet
Karin Viard ..... ademoiselle Plusse
Ticky Holgado ..... arcel Tapioca
Anne-Marie Pisani ..... adame Tapioca
Boban Janevski ..... oung Rascal
Mikael Todde ..... oung Rascal (as Mikaël Todde)
Edith Ker ..... randmother
Rufus ..... obert Kube
Jacques Mathou ..... oger
Howard Vernon ..... rog Man
Chick Ortega ..... ostman
Silvie Laguna ..... urore Interligator

Synopsis:

A post-apocalyptic future becomes the setting for pitch black humor in this visually intricate French comedy. The action takes place within a single apartment complex, which is owned by the same man that operates the downstairs butcher shop. It's a particularly popular place to live, thanks to the butcher's uncanny ability to find excellent cuts of meat despite the horrible living conditions outside. The newest building superintendent, a former circus clown, thinks he has found an ideal living situation. All that changes, however, when he discovers the true source of the butcher's meat, and that he may be the next main course. This dark tale is played out in a brilliantly designed, glorious surreal alternate world reminiscent of the works of director Terry Gilliam, who co-presented the film's American release. Like Gilliam, co-directors Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro hail from an animation background, and have a fondness for extravagant visuals, absurdist plot twists, and a sense of humor that combines sharp satire with broad slapstick and gross-out imagery. This mixture may displease the weak of stomach, but those attuned to the film's sensibility will be delighted by the obvious technical virtuosity and wicked sense of humor.

Delicatessen begins in a dilapidated apartment building in post-apocalyptic France. Food is in short supply, with grain used as currency. In the ground floor of the apartment building is a butcher's shop, run by the landlord, Clapet (Jean-Claude Dreyfus), who posts job opportunities in the Hard Times paper as means to lure victims to the building, whom he murders and butchers as a cheap source of meat that he sells to his tenants. Following the "departure" of the last worker, unemployed circus clown Louison (Dominique Pinon) arrives to apply for the vacant position. During his routine maintenance, he gradually befriends Julie Clapet (Marie-Laure Dougnac), a relationship which slowly blossoms into romance. Aware of her father's motives and Louison's imminent death, Julie descends into the sewers to make contact with the feared Troglodistes, a vegetarian sub-group of French rebels, whom she convinces to help rescue Louison. Following the apparent death and butchering of an old woman, the Troglodistes return, and Mr. Clapet, with the remaining tenants of the building, storm Louison's room in an attempt to murder him. Louison, aided by Julie, resists by flooding his apartment. He is able to narrowly avoid death as Clapet inadvertently kills himself with Louison's weapon. The film ends with Louison and Julie playing music together on the roof of the now peaceful apartment building.

Delicatessen is a 1991 French black comedy film, directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro, starring Dominique Pinon and Karin Viard. It is set in a post-apocalyptic apartment building in a France of an ambiguous time period. The story focuses on the tenants of the apartment building and their desperate bids to survive. Among these characters is a newly arrived tenant, who arrives to replace a tenant whose reason for departure is initially unclear. The butcher, Clapet, is the leader of the group which strives to keep control and balance in the apartment building. It is largely a character-based film, with much of the interest being gained from each tenant's own particular idiosyncrasies and their relationship to each other.

This product was added to our catalog on Tuesday 19 April, 2011.