Delicatessen (film)
Encyclopedia
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 an apartment building in a post-apocalyptic France of an ambiguous time period. The story focuses on the tenants of the building and their desperate bids to survive. Among these characters is the newly arrived Louison, 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.
Released in North America with a credit reading Terry Gilliam
presents, the film - like its successor The City of Lost Children
(1995) - is a deliberate homage to Gilliam.
. 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 Clapet's daughter, Julie (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 the bathroom until Clapet opens the door and he and the other tenants are momentarily carried away by the ensuing flood. Louison 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.
On the UK
Region 2 DVD
released by Momentum Pictures
, the soundtrack
is available in four languages. These are French
, German
, Spanish
and Italian
.
gave it 86% from a total of 35 reviews, and that of MetaCritic
gave it 66 out of 100 from a total of 17 reviews. Variety
called it "a zany little film that's a startling and clever debut", while Empire
calls it "A fair bet for cultdom, a lot more likeable than its subject matter suggests, and simply essential viewing for vegetarians". Not all reviews were positive, however, with The New York Times
saying "its last half-hour is devoted chiefly to letting the characters wreck the sets, and quite literally becomes a washout when the bathtub overflows."
the Audience Jury Award, at the Guild of German Art House Cinemas Best Foreign Film, at Sitges
Best Actor, Best Director, Best Original Soundtrack and the Prize of Catalan Screenwriter's Critic and Writer's Association. At the Tokyo International Film Festival
, it won the Gold Award. The film also received nominations for those award ceremonies as well as for the BAFTAs.
1991 in film
The year 1991 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*April 28 - Bonnie Raitt marries actor Michael O'Keefe in New York* Terminator 2: Judgment Day, became one of the landmarks for science fiction action films with its groundbreaking visual effects from Industrial Light & Magic.*November...
French
Cinema of France
The Cinema of France comprises the art of film and creative movies made within the nation of France or by French filmmakers abroad.France is the birthplace of cinema and was responsible for many of its early significant contributions. Several important cinematic movements, including the Nouvelle...
black comedy
Black comedy
A black comedy, or dark comedy, is a comic work that employs black humor or gallows humor. The definition of black humor is problematic; it has been argued that it corresponds to the earlier concept of gallows humor; and that, as humor has been defined since Freud as a comedic act that anesthetizes...
film, directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Jean-Pierre Jeunet
-Life and career:Jean-Pierre Jeunet was born in Roanne, Loire, France. He bought his first camera at the age of 17 and made short films while studying animation at Cinémation Studios. He befriended Marc Caro, a designer and comic book artist who became his longtime collaborator and...
and Marc Caro
Marc Caro
Marc Caro, born April 2, 1956, is a French filmmaker and cartoonist, best known for his co-directing projects with Jean-Pierre Jeunet. The two of them met at a film festival in 1974, and directed three short and two feature length films together....
, starring Dominique Pinon
Dominique Pinon
Dominique Pinon is a French actor whose most famous roles have been in the films of Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Jean-Jacques Beineix. In the theatre, he has appeared in the plays of Gildas Bourdet, Jorge Lavelli and Valère Novarina...
and Karin Viard
Karin Viard
Karin Viard is a multi-award-winning French actress. She made her film debut in Tatie Danielle in 1990.Since then she has appeared in such films as Delicatessen, L'Emploi du temps , Adultère, mode d'emploi and La parenthèse enchantée.She was a member of the 2003 Cannes Film Festival...
. It is set in an apartment building in a post-apocalyptic France of an ambiguous time period. The story focuses on the tenants of the building and their desperate bids to survive. Among these characters is the newly arrived Louison, 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.
Released in North America with a credit reading Terry Gilliam
Terry Gilliam
Terrence Vance "Terry" Gilliam is an American-born British screenwriter, film director, animator, actor and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Gilliam is also known for directing several films, including Brazil , The Adventures of Baron Munchausen , The Fisher King , and 12 Monkeys...
presents, the film - like its successor The City of Lost Children
The City of Lost Children
The City of Lost Children is a dystopian French fantasy/drama film by Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet released in 1995. The film is stylistically related to the previous and subsequent Jeunet films, Delicatessen and Amélie. It was entered into the 1995 Cannes Film Festival.-Plot:A mad scientist,...
(1995) - is a deliberate homage to Gilliam.
Plot
Delicatessen begins in a dilapidated apartment building in post-apocalyptic FranceFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. Food is in short supply, with grain used as currency. In the ground floor of the apartment building is a butcher
Butcher
A butcher is a person who may slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat or any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat, poultry, fish and shellfish for sale in retail or wholesale food establishments...
's shop, run by the landlord
Landlord
A landlord is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, or real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called a tenant . When a juristic person is in this position, the term landlord is used. Other terms include lessor and owner...
, Clapet (Jean-Claude Dreyfus
Jean-Claude Dreyfus
Jean-Claude Dreyfus is a French actor. He began his career in film acting in 1973 in the film Comment réussir quand on est con et pleurnichard. Dreyfus is notable for his portrayal of a butcher in the black comedy Delicatessen by Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet...
), 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
Circus
A circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...
clown
Clown
Clowns are comic performers stereotypically characterized by the grotesque image of the circus clown's colored wigs, stylistic makeup, outlandish costumes, unusually large footwear, and red nose, which evolved to project their actions to large audiences. Other less grotesque styles have also...
Louison (Dominique Pinon
Dominique Pinon
Dominique Pinon is a French actor whose most famous roles have been in the films of Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Jean-Jacques Beineix. In the theatre, he has appeared in the plays of Gildas Bourdet, Jorge Lavelli and Valère Novarina...
) arrives to apply for the vacant position. During his routine maintenance, he gradually befriends Clapet's daughter, Julie (Marie-Laure Dougnac
Marie-Laure Dougnac
Marie-Laure Dougnac is a French actress specializing in the dubbing of English films and TV shows into French.- Theatre:* 2000 : La main passe by Georges Feydeau, produced by Gildas Bourdet, Théâtre national de Chaillot, Théâtre Comédia- Films :...
), 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 the bathroom until Clapet opens the door and he and the other tenants are momentarily carried away by the ensuing flood. Louison 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.
Cast
- Dominique PinonDominique PinonDominique Pinon is a French actor whose most famous roles have been in the films of Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Jean-Jacques Beineix. In the theatre, he has appeared in the plays of Gildas Bourdet, Jorge Lavelli and Valère Novarina...
as Louison - Marie-Laure DougnacMarie-Laure DougnacMarie-Laure Dougnac is a French actress specializing in the dubbing of English films and TV shows into French.- Theatre:* 2000 : La main passe by Georges Feydeau, produced by Gildas Bourdet, Théâtre national de Chaillot, Théâtre Comédia- Films :...
as Julie Clapet - Jean-Claude DreyfusJean-Claude DreyfusJean-Claude Dreyfus is a French actor. He began his career in film acting in 1973 in the film Comment réussir quand on est con et pleurnichard. Dreyfus is notable for his portrayal of a butcher in the black comedy Delicatessen by Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet...
as Clapet - Karin ViardKarin ViardKarin Viard is a multi-award-winning French actress. She made her film debut in Tatie Danielle in 1990.Since then she has appeared in such films as Delicatessen, L'Emploi du temps , Adultère, mode d'emploi and La parenthèse enchantée.She was a member of the 2003 Cannes Film Festival...
as Mademoiselle Plusse - Ticky HolgadoTicky HolgadoTicky Holgado , pseudonym of Joseph Holgado, was a French actor and a frequent collaborator with Jean-Pierre Jeunet....
as Marcel Tapioca - Edith KerEdith KerÉdith Ker, born Édith Denise Keraudren was a French actress born in Brest . She is best known to English-speaking audiences as the grandmother in Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Delicatessen.-Filmographie:...
as Grandmother - RufusRufus (actor)Rufus is the stage name of Italo-French actor Jacques Narcy. He is also called Zio Vittorio...
as Robert Kube - Jacques MathouJacques MathouJacques Mathou is a French actor, best known for his appearance in Delicatessen.-Filmography:* 1994 : Tombés du ciel, Policeman* 1991 : Delicatessen, Roger* 1990 : The Hairdresser's Husband, Mr Chardon* 1989 : Dédé, the priest...
as Roger - Howard VernonHoward VernonHoward Vernon was a Swiss actor.Vernon was born Mario Lippert to a Swiss father and an American mother and was fluent in German, English, and French...
as Frog Man - Marc CaroMarc CaroMarc Caro, born April 2, 1956, is a French filmmaker and cartoonist, best known for his co-directing projects with Jean-Pierre Jeunet. The two of them met at a film festival in 1974, and directed three short and two feature length films together....
as Fox
Marketing
The original American trailer for the film simply presented the comic "squeaky spring" sequence in full. The sequence depicts a montage of the butcher-landlord making love to his mistress on a noisy bed, while the rest of the building's tenants perform activities (painting ceilings, knitting, playing the cello, assembling animal calls) at an increasing pace, with the squeaks from the bedsprings dictating the tempo. The trailer ended with the butcher climaxing, each tenant's activity ending (rather violently) and then a sudden cut to the title logo and the 'swinging pig' emblem from the film's opening credits.On the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Region 2 DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
released by Momentum Pictures
Momentum Pictures
Momentum Pictures , an Alliance Films company, is one of the leading independent motion picture distributors in the UK and Ireland and releases approximately 20 theatrical films a year, with several stv releases....
, the soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
is available in four languages. These are French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
and Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
.
Critical reception
The film was received well critically. The review aggregator Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
gave it 86% from a total of 35 reviews, and that of MetaCritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
gave it 66 out of 100 from a total of 17 reviews. Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
called it "a zany little film that's a startling and clever debut", while Empire
Empire (magazine)
Empire is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. From the first issue in July 1989, the magazine was edited by Barry McIlheney and published by Emap. Bauer purchased Emap Consumer Media in early 2008...
calls it "A fair bet for cultdom, a lot more likeable than its subject matter suggests, and simply essential viewing for vegetarians". Not all reviews were positive, however, with The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
saying "its last half-hour is devoted chiefly to letting the characters wreck the sets, and quite literally becomes a washout when the bathtub overflows."
Awards and nominations
The film has won and been nominated for several important European awards. At the César Awards it won Best Editing, Best Film Work, Best Production Design and Best Writing, at the European Film Awards it won Best Set Design, at FantasportoFantasporto
Fantasporto, also known as Fantas, is an international film festival, annually organized since 1981 in Porto, Portugal. Giving screen space to commercial feature films, auteur films and experimental projects from all over the world, Fantasporto has created enthusiastic audiences, ranging from...
the Audience Jury Award, at the Guild of German Art House Cinemas Best Foreign Film, at Sitges
Sitges
*Church of Sant Bartolomeu i Santa Tecla . It houses two Gothic sepulchres , belonging to the an older church located on the same site...
Best Actor, Best Director, Best Original Soundtrack and the Prize of Catalan Screenwriter's Critic and Writer's Association. At the Tokyo International Film Festival
Tokyo International Film Festival
Tokyo International Film Festival is a film festival established in 1985. The event was held biannually from 1985 to 1991 and annually thereafter...
, it won the Gold Award. The film also received nominations for those award ceremonies as well as for the BAFTAs.