Delicatessen (1992)

Set in a post-apocalyptic France, where food is scarce, former clown Louison takes a job as the handyman in an apartment block… not realising that after a week's work the butcher, who owns the building, intends to kill him to feed the building's residents. Before that can happen the butcher's short-sighted daughter, Julie, starts to fall in love with Louison. In an attempt to save him she contacts 'The Troglodytes'; a group of sewer-dwelling vegetarian 'terrorists'.The plot makes this sound like a horror movie but in reality it is a surreal comedy. The building is populated with a variety of bizarre characters including a woman whose convoluted suicide attempts invariably fail and a man whose flooded flat is full of snails and frogs! Things start well with the sight of the previous handyman's attempt to escape his fate disguised as rubbish and continues with a succession of inventive, strange and hilarious scenes. The cast does a fine job making their characters believable despite how strange they all are… only Louison and Julie are vaguely normal. If the goings on weren't strange enough everything has a yellow tinge that makes everything seem somewhat rotten. Overall I'd say that while this film won't be for everybody those who enjoy the bizarre and surreal should love it.These comments are based on watching the film in French with English subtitles.

It is rare that I find a movie just too weird, but it seemed that my streak has been bested by "Delicatessen". It was just weird on a level where it stopped being fun and entertaining. And this 1991 movie was just really far out there.What peeked my interest about this movie was the synopsis on the back of the DVD cover. Yeah, it did come off as interesting. And I don't mind a movie being in a non-English language. But watching this movie, it quickly became clear that this was not in my range of preference.Set in an apocalyptic time, "Delicatessen" is filmed and constantly lit by a dark orange-like hue, which was a bit odd, but worked out well enough, I suppose.Now, what "Delicatessen" had working in its favor was the performances put on by the cast, and they made it bearable to sit through the train wreck of a storyline."Delicatessen" is somewhat of an acquired taste, which wasn't for me. This was a wide swing and a miss by directors Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro.

This really is an absolutely superb film what's more its the kind of film that makes you sit up and take notice. Jeunet & Caro have created a true masterpiece. This movie is most definitely not for everyone but definitely all of my friends and I enjoyed it. If you love to watch a good witty, dark humoured movie, then this indeed is the movie for you.This movie is definitely what you might consider an off-beat style and I definitely love watching it time and time again! It can't be classified just as a romance I mean this film has a bit everything for everyone. Well worth watching!

On one hand, this film has a lot of originality, especially the way it narrates the story and the interconnection of events; however, it also contains a lot of clichés that you see coming minutes before it actually comes. Nevertheless; if you have spare time, there is no reason to miss this.I rate a film 8/10 when it's a good film of a particular generation but does not establish itself as a timeless classic. This means people will think of it when they try to come up with names of films in this genre or theme, and it's enjoyable to re-watch from time to time regardless of personal preference. Think of Love Actually, Harry Potter and the like. To reach 9/10, it must push the standard to the next level either by displaying a sheer perfection or reinventing the genre. Lord of The Rings is a good example for 9/10 as it is a sensibly 'perfect' film that pushes the limit of production, special effect etc.