Opening

77% Fast & Furious 6 May 24
23% The Hangover Part III May 23
67% Epic May 24
98% Before Midnight May 24
79% We Steal Secrets: The Story Of Wikileaks May 24
87% Fill the Void May 24
—— A Green Story
—— Alyce Kills May 24

Top Box Office

87% Star Trek Into Darkness $70.2M
78% Iron Man 3 $35.8M
50% The Great Gatsby $23.9M
46% Pain & Gain $3.2M
69% The Croods $3.0M
77% 42 $2.8M
55% Oblivion $2.3M
99% Mud $2.2M
36% Peeples $2.2M
8% The Big Wedding $1.2M

Coming Soon

—— After Earth May 31
—— Now You See Me May 31
100% The Kings of Summer May 31
89% The East May 31
Delicatessen

Delicatessen (1992)

tomatometer

88

Average Rating: 7.6/10
Reviews Counted: 41
Fresh: 36 | Rotten: 5

Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet deftly combines horror, sci-fi, and humor in Delicatessen, a morbid comedy set in a visually ravishing futuristic dystopia.

57

Average Rating: 5.7/10
Critic Reviews: 7
Fresh: 4 | Rotten: 3

Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet deftly combines horror, sci-fi, and humor in Delicatessen, a morbid comedy set in a visually ravishing futuristic dystopia.

audience

90

liked it
Average Rating: 4.1/5
User Ratings: 45,610

My Rating

Movie Info

A post-apocalyptic future becomes the setting for pitch black humor in this visually intricate French comedy. The action takes place within a single apartment complex, which is owned by the same man that operates the downstairs butcher shop. It's a particularly popular place to live, thanks to the butcher's uncanny ability to find excellent cuts of meat despite the horrible living conditions outside. The newest building superintendent, a former circus clown, thinks he has found an ideal living

May 2, 2006

Lionsgate

Watch It Now

Cast

ADVERTISEMENT

All Critics (41) | Top Critics (7) | Fresh (43) | Rotten (5) | DVD (19)

With their detached, sardonic and decidedly sick slant, Jeunet and Caro have served up a burnt-to-a-crisp feast.

June 5, 2007
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic IconTop Critic

There are no characters to care about or remember afterward -- just a lot of flashy technique involving decor, some glib allegorical flourishes, and the obligatory studied film-school weirdness.

June 5, 2007 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A zany little film that's a startling and clever debut for co-helmers Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro.

June 5, 2007 Full Review Source: Variety
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Increasingly inventive as it progresses, Jeunet and Caro's fast, funny feature debut entertains from sinister start to frantic finish.

January 26, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out
Time Out
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Its last half-hour is devoted chiefly to letting the characters wreck the sets, and quite literally becomes a washout when the bathtub overflows.

May 20, 2003 Full Review Source: New York Times
New York Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A laboriously self-conscious attempt at being avant-garde.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Washington Post | Comment (1)
Washington Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Sweet, sinister and endearingly scruffy.

November 27, 2012 Full Review Source: Total Film
Total Film

Like a light-hearted Brazil it conjures up imagery of such impact, and such resonant subject matter that it will (...) affect audiences for generations to come.

February 1, 2011 Full Review Source: What Culture
What Culture

Serves up a stew that seems to be made of a little of everything from one hundred years of screen comedy, seasoned with Grand Guignol. [Blu-ray]

October 5, 2010 Full Review Source: Groucho Reviews
Groucho Reviews

[A] black-hearted black comedy, directed as if it were a living cartoon.

September 16, 2010 Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid
Combustible Celluloid

Dark comedy-fantasy about cannibalism isn't for kids.

August 24, 2010 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media
Common Sense Media

Part macabre horror, part romantic drama, part childlike fable, this ingeniously original French film defies categorization, but is successful on all of these levels, which may explain why it has become an international cult classic.

February 27, 2007 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com
EmanuelLevy.Com

With Delicatessen, Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro shoot for a Terry Gilliam-esque grotesque beauty and only hit grime.

May 21, 2006 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine

Delicatessen uses its aggressive stylization and capricious visual contraptions as a form of imprisonment.

May 21, 2006 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine

A title certainly worthy of its cult status.

May 12, 2006 Full Review Source: Bullz-Eye.com
Bullz-Eye.com

If not an instant classic when first released, it is now, fifteen years later

May 5, 2006 Full Review Source: Movie Habit
Movie Habit

Delicatessen tends to get a bit too slapstick and harebrained...especially toward the end. I preferred the more subtle black humor of the movie's surreal first half.

April 29, 2006 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis
Movie Metropolis

..takes the gruesome, grisly business of murder and cannibalism and makes of it something quite poetic and quite funny.

April 29, 2006 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis
Movie Metropolis

Audience Reviews for Delicatessen

A former clown lives in a tenement that features several quirky characters including a cannibalistic butcher.
Super Reviewer Alice Shen contends that Jean-Pierre Jeunet had one good idea, Amelie. I disagree only because I love A Very Long Engagement and liked Micmacs, but her view that his work descends into a convoluted mess when he is unable to seamlessly entwine his characters and plotlines is well-taken in the case of Delicatessen. The underground army that plays a seminal role in the film's conclusion isn't introduced until the second act, and even then, I thought they were just passing through, on their way to another movie. The quirky "sex symphony" and the quirkier frog man weren't interesting or amusing; they were just Jeunet trying too hard. I also think that Dominque Pinon, winner of the Most Interesting-Looking Face award, is more suitable to supporting roles, where he can provide the perfect balance to the film's straight man, as he does in A Very Long Engagement.
Overall, this is not Jeunet's best work, but it's better than most films about cannibalism.
June 10, 2012
hunterjt13
Jim Hunter

Super Reviewer

This is exactly like Brazil. That is to say, the movies look really really similar, in thier cluttered sets, quirky characters and post-apocalyptic yet casual world. I liked it as much as I liked Brazil. It was fun, kinda cool, but not really my cup of tea. It kind of bothered me the way it couldn't quite pick what genre it was supposed to be. I think it wanted to be a comedy.
April 25, 2012
MidnightMadwoman

Super Reviewer

No quotes approved yet for Delicatessen. Logged in users can submit quotes.

Discussion Forum

There are no discussion threads for Delicatessen yet.

Latest News on Delicatessen

May 27, 2010:
Jean-Pierre Jeunet Talks Micmacs
Seems like an age since French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet has been on screens: his last film, the...

Help | About | Jobs | Critics Submission | API | Licensing | Mobile