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Movies / On DVD / Delicatessen
Delicatessen

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Delicatessen (1991)

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86 %
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Reviews Counted: 37

Fresh: 32

Rotten:5

Average Rating: 7.7/10

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

Runtime: 1 hr 39 mins

Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy

Synopsis: After years of working successfully in commercials and music videos, French directors Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet make a splashing feature-film debut, DELICATESSEN, a hysterical exercise in... After years of working successfully in commercials and music videos, French directors Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet make a splashing feature-film debut, DELICATESSEN, a hysterical exercise in style. Scripted by comic book writer and frequent Caro and Jeunet collaborator Gilles Adrien, the story follows a sweet-natured clown, Louison (Dominique Pinon), who moves into a run down apartment building with a delicatessen on the ground floor and falls in love with the butcher's daughter, Julie Clapet (Marie-Laure Dougnac). When it turns out that Julie's father (Jean-Claude Dreyfus) is actually butchering human beings and selling the meat to the carnivorous tenants of the building, Julie must decide if she will remain loyal to her father's business or expose the truth in order to save Louison from being the next victim. Taking place entirely inside, underneath, and on the roof of the delicatessen, the film uses an old pipe that runs throughout the building as a channel of communication for its characters. Caro and Jeunet have a flair for visual communication and comedy that overflows in DELICATESSEN, keeping viewers engaged in the film even when the style seems to swallow the plot. In one of the most mimicked scenes of the 1990s (most notably in commercials), the directors brilliantly choreograph a bizarre event in which the separate activities of each of the hotel's tenants--a couple making love in a squeaky bed, a man painting his ceiling, a woman playing the cello--become hilariously rhythmic and synchronized. This scene spawned an entirely new cinematic language, making DELICATESSEN one of the most auspicious directorial debuts of the '90s. [More]

Starring: Dominique Pinon, Marie-Laure Dougnac, Jean-Claude Dreyfus, Karin Viard

Starring: Dominique Pinon, Marie-Laure Dougnac, Jean-Claude Dreyfus, Karin Viard, Rufus, Ticky Holgado, Silvie Laguna, Jacques Mathou, Jean-Francois Perrier, Anne Marie Pisan, Howard Vernon, Chick Ortega

Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Marc Caro

Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Marc Caro

[See More Credits]

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Release:

May 2, 2006

[DVD Details]
 
 
  • Delicatessen
  • From Jean-Pierre Jeunet, the award-winning director of AMELIE, comes a unique and surreal dark comedy that received overwhelming critical acclaim! In a post-apocalyptic society where meat is scarce, cannibalism is no longer unsavory. And when a young ex-clown takes a job in a dilapidated deli, he's completely unaware that the butcher plans to serve him to the building's bizarre tenants! But when the butcher's nearsighted daughter falls for the clown, she'll go to absurd lengths to foil her father's plan! Loaded with tasty bonus features, this bonafide cult classic now premieres on DVD!
  • Source: Buena Vista Home Entertainment
  •  
     
     
     

    Reviews for Delicatessen

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    1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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    With their detached, sardonic and decidedly sick slant, Jeunet and Caro have served up a burnt-to-a-crisp feast.

    Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
    06/05/07
    Duane Byrge
    Hollywood Reporter
    Top Critic Icon Top 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.

    Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
    06/05/07
    Jonathan Rosenbaum
    Chicago Reader
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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

    Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
    06/05/07
    Variety Staff
    Variety
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    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.

    Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
    02/27/07
    Emanuel Levy
    EmanuelLevy.Com

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

    Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment Comment
    05/21/06
    Paul Schrodt
    Slant Magazine

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

    Full Review Source: DVDTown.com | comment Comment
    04/29/06
    John J. Puccio
    DVDTown.com

    Sure, it's funny, it's gross, it's diabolically, unabashedly idiosyncratic, but it's also an epic ode to that most fundamental expression of human endeavor -- creativity.

    Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
    04/12/06
    Keith Breese
    Filmcritic.com

    A black comedy mind-bender.

    comment Comment
    03/07/06
    Cole Smithey
    ColeSmithey.com

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

    Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
    01/26/06
    Geoff Andrew
    Time Out

    No review available.

    comment Comment
    07/02/05
    Emanuel Levy
    EmanuelLevy.Com

    Strange, dark comedy that established Jeunet as a visual innovator.

    comment Comment
    01/13/05
    Rob Thomas
    Capital Times (Madison, WI)

    No review available.

    comment Comment
    12/05/04
    Michael Dequina
    Mr. Brown's Movies

    visually astonishing

    comment Comment
    11/08/04
    Rich Cline
    Shadows on the Wall

    No review available.

    comment Comment
    06/25/04
    Enrique Buchichio
    Uruguay Total

    Sublime, edible film with exquisite art direction.

    comment Comment
    01/27/04
    Moira Sullivan
    FilmFestivals.com

    No review available.

    comment Comment
    11/11/03
    Jeffrey Westhoff
    Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL)

    An ingeniously funny film with a surprisingly sweet romance at its center.

    Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
    07/30/03
    TV Guide's Movie Guide

    Funny dark comedy with some good setpieces

    comment Comment
    07/18/03
    Fred Topel
    About.com

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

    Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
    05/20/03
    Janet Maslin
    New York Times
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    An auspicious debut for Jeunet that tends to be overly praised, but is definitely worth seeing.

    comment Comment
    03/07/03
    Luke Y. Thompson
    New Times
     
     
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