Delicatessen (1991)

French Cinema is known in as being one of the finer things in life to ponder at. The long and colourful heritage, a chain of talented film crews, casts and directors as well as the world famous Cannes festival have helped established France as the Godfather of art house cinema Delicatessen is a wonderfully dark and rewarding tale that is not only extremely creative but also extremely funny, due to the fact that it fails to take itself too seriously. It tells of a post-apocalyptic dystopia, where grain is used as currency. A butcher decides to adapt to the dire standard of living by killing of his tenants and selling their meat. When a new lodger moves in, a selection of crazy characters come out of the woodwork, as the new lodger discovers the truth and tries to stay alive while his new girl friend (daughter of the arch-fiend butcher) ill-advisedly seeks the help of the Vegetarian freedom fighters. Yes, it gets a bit messy. The world of Delicatessen is amazingly realised, with smoke charred streets giving that feeling of over-hanging doom, while the butchers shop looks like a warped, clownish horror show, the irony being that the main protaganist is a clown himself. The Characters do the setting justice, whether it be the leering, psychotic butcher, the eccentric, suicidal and mollusc-eating lodgers and of course, Livingstone. Such a bizarre, selection of characters are dutifully brought to life by the cast. At worst the acting is standard while at best we have Jean-Claude Dreyfus who is chilling as the butcher. HE commands power throughout and brings new meaning to the phrase “if looks could kill”, yet at some point, you cannot help but root for him. The perfect medicine for someone who hates being forced to watch French-exported middle-class turf war tedium by their “culutured” counterparts. Approach such a rare gem of originality with scepticism at your peril. Besides, it is a far more poignant character study and is downright hilarious in equal measure.