Delicatessen (1991)

France 99m, Colour
Directors: Marc Caro, Jean-Pierre Jeunet; Cast: Dominique Pinon, Marie-Laure Dougnac, Jean-Claude Dreyfus, Karin Viard

Delicatessen is a post-apocalyptic black comedy centered on the lives of a small group of people living in a ruined apartment block who rely upon their local butcher to provide them with “meat” in a time of desperate shortages. While everyone tacitly recognizes that their butcher’s products are in fact a string of temporary tenants, they attempt to go about their daily normal lives. Owing a great deal to the influence of Terry Gilliam in terms of the film’s retro-style and mood, particularly Brazil (1985), Delicatessen is a wonderfully dark character-driven and hilariously awkward love story (Klaus Ming May 2012).

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