Delicatessen (film)

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Delicatessen
Image:Delicatessen2.jpg Original theatrical poster
Directed by	Marc Caro Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Produced by	Claudie Ossard
Written by	Gilles Adrien Marc Caro Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Starring	Pascal Benezech Dominique Pinon Marie-Laure Dougnac Jean-Claude Dreyfus Karin Viard
Music by	Carlos D'Alessio
Cinematography	Darius Khondji
Distributed by	Miramax Films
Release date(s)	April 17, 1991 (France)
Country	France
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Delicatessen (1991) is a French black comedy by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro, starring Dominique Pinon.

1 Plot
2 Background
3 Cast
4 Trivia
5 External links

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Delicatessen is set in an unspecified time and place which has the appearance of a post-apocalyptic version of 1950s France. The story revolves around a bizarre group of neighbors living in an apartment building situated over a butcher shop, the operator of which is also their landlord. Each of them pays a fee to the butcher for both rent and food, which is in short supply. Grain is used as currency (corn and legumes(vegetables in french)) and animals are in short supply, having been hunted nearly to extinction for food. The butcher hires a "worker" in exchange for room and board, and later this worker is cannibalized. The hero is an unemployed clown, who is the latest part-time worker to move in. He begins an affair with the butcher's daughter while trying to survive constant attempts on his life. He is ultimately rescued by an underground vegetarian terrorist organization who call themselves Les Troglodistes (The Troglodists).

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Background

There are similarities between the butcher's crimes and the real crimes of Fritz Haarmann on post-World War I era: 'Rumours had it that Haarmann would then peddle meat from the bodies of his victims as black market pork'. More information on the bottom on a theme related article: Germany's internet cannibal

[edit] Cast

Pascal Benezech as Tried to Escape
Dominique Pinon as Louison
Marie-Laure Dougnac as Julie Clapet

Jean-Claude Dreyfus as Clapet
Karin Viard as Mademoiselle Plusse
Ticky Holgado as Marcel Tapioca

Anne-Marie Pisani as Madame Tapioca
Boban Janevski as Young Rascal
Mikael Todde as Young Rascal (as Mikaël Todde)
Edith Ker as Grandmother
Rufus as Robert Kube
Jacques Mathou as Roger
Howard Vernon as Frog Man
Chick Ortega as Postman

Silvie Laguna as Aurore Interligator
Jean-François Perrier as Georges Interligator
Dominique Zardi as Taxi Driver
Patrick Paroux as Puk
Maurice Lamy as Pank
Marc Caro as Fox
Eric Averlant as Tourneur
Dominique Bettenfeld as Dominique (Troglodist)
Jean-Luc Caron as Les Troglodistes
Bernard Flavien as Les Troglodistes
David Defever as Les Troglodistes
Raymond Forestier as Les Troglodistes
Robert Baud as Les Troglodistes
"Clara" as Mr. Livingstone the Chimp

[edit] Trivia

The action is set in a French city after a nuclear war or some equivalent global catastrophe. It is implied that crops cannot be grown and that most animals have been hunted for food.

The original American trailer for the film was the entire uncut "squeeky spring" sequence from the film- a montage of The butcher/landlord making love to his mistress on a noisy bed, and the rest of the building's tenants performing activities (painting ceilings, knitting, assembling novelty toys) at an increasing pace and the squeeks forom the bedsprings dictate the tempo. The trailer ends with the butcher climaxing, each tenant's activity ending (rather violently) and then a slam cut to the title logo and the 'swinging pig' emblem.

[edit] External links

Delicatessen at the Internet Movie Database

Feature films of Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Delicatessen (with Marc Caro, 1991) • The City of Lost Children (with Marc Caro, 1995) • Alien: Resurrection (1997) • Amélie (2001) • A Very Long Engagement (2004)