Delicatessen
Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Marc Caro
- comedy
- science fiction
- fantasy
The story
In a post-apocalyptic world, the residents of an apartment above the butcher shop receive an occasional delicacy of meat, something that is in low supply. A young man new in town falls in love with the butcher's daughter, which causes conflicts in her family, who need the young man for other business-related purposes.
What it’s like
Gritty, sepia-drenched and cluttered, with a sallow, rust-and-ochre palette that looks like it has been left in a damp cellar for decades. Its ruined Paris is lit by weak practical bulbs, dim gaslight and the occasional bruised daylight through grimy courtyard windows, and the camera favours wide, deep-focus compositions packed with grotesque props, laundry lines and cramped tenement corridors. Sound is a constant mechanical clatter of pipes, clocks, bicycles and bells, scored with a jaunty accordion-and-brass waltz that undercuts the squalor. The vibe is bizarre, warm-hearted dark comedy, a cartoonish slapstick unease with a gleefully macabre edge, best suited to a late-night watch with the lights low or a playful offbeat double bill. Its rhythm is brisk and farcical, with physical gags and visual jokes landing quickly, and its emotional core is a gentle romance between an outsider and a lonely, sheltered young woman. The violence is cartoonish and darkly funny, with grisly implications around the butcher's trade but little on-screen gore, and there is some sexual innuendo and mild nudity. It suits adults who enjoy eccentric, Terry Gilliam-adjacent absurdity and don't mind their comedy with a rotten edge.
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