Thursday, February 26, 2009
Délicatessen - Marc Caro Jean-Pierre Jeunet Détecteur de conneries
Delicatessen begins in a dilapidated apartment building in post-apocalyptic 1950s France. Food is in short supply, with grain used as currency & animal populations dwindling, having been hunted to extinction. At the foot of the apartment building is a butcher's shop, run by the landlord, Clapet (Jean-Claude Dreyfus), who posts job opportunities in the "Hard Times" paper as means to lure victims to the building, whom he murders & butchers as a cheap source of meat that he sells to his tenants. Following the "departure" of the last worker, unemployed circus clown Louison (Dominique Pinon) arrives to apply for the vacant position. During his routine maintenance, he gradually befriends Julie Clapet (Marie-Laure Dougnac), which slowly blossoms into a romantic relationship. Aware of her father's motives & Louison's imminent death, Julie descends into the sewers to make contact with the feared Troglodytes, a vegetarian sub-group of French rebels, whom she convinces to help rescue Louison. Following their botched abduction of another tenant, the Troglodytes return as Clapet, with the remaining cannibalistic tenants of the building, storm Louison's room in an attempt to murder him. Louison, now aided by Julie, resists & injures many of the bloodthirsty tenants by flooding his apartment. He is able to narrowly avoid death as Clapet inadvertently kills himself with Louison's weapon. The film ends with Louison & Julie enjoying each other's company on the roof of the now peaceful apartment building.
