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Released by: Severin Films
Released on: November 26th, 2024.
Director: Marc Caro, Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Cast: Marie-Laure Dougnac, Dominique Pinon, Pascal Benezech, Howard Vernon
Year: 1991
Purchase From Severin Films
Delicatessen – Movie Review:
Before Jean-Pierre Jeunet won oodles of critical acclaim for his hit, Amelie, he was best known for his collaborations with Marc Caro, with whom he made the dark and wonderful The City of Lost Children, and of course, Delicatessen – a strange hybrid of science fiction elements with trappings of black humor and cannibalism. This film has brought them many admirers, including Terry Gilliam and until now it's been strangely absent on DVD in North America (you'd have thought that it would have come out around the same time as Amelia to cash in on that's film's popularity).
The story is based around Louison (Jeunet regular Dominique Pinon who also appears in Amelie), who arrives out of nowhere one day, in a post apocalyptic world, or more specifically, a small town in France. Louison is looking for work in trade for room and board, as a former clown his skills aren't so much in demand but he is a perfectly capable laborer and while he doesn't have much money he's perfectly happy to work for what he needs. He finally finds a job as a handyman in an strange old apartment building overtop of a butcher shop, where, to his delight, he is given lodging and some food in exchange for his services by the butcher himself, a man named Clapet (Jean-Claude Dreyfus of The City Of Lost Children).
Food is a hot commodity in this world, and used as currency. Most people live off of grain and other bland consumables and use more expensive foods like meat as barter, and because of this a lot of people are also cannibals. The butcher shop downstairs takes care of this for the tenants, but unluckily for Louison, he's next on the menu. Things get a little complicated for the butcher, who intends to serve him up to the tenants who live above him in exchange for grain, when his pretty daughter, Julie (Marie-Laure Dougnac), falls in love with Louison as she knows all too well what her father and his tenants are up to. In order to save his life, she gets in touch with an underground movement made up of some eccentric vegetarian rebels who actually east food rather than covet it as a possession.
On a visual level, Delicatessen is a completely amazing film that could easily draw comparisons to the better works of Terry Gilliam with maybe some of the stranger elements of David Fincher's catalogue thrown in for good measure – but which also stands on its own as a completely unique animal. Strange architecture, oddly mutant like cast members, and bizarre and unlikely color schemes with an emphasis on organic Earth tones like green yellow and brown give the film a very original visual flair uncommon in most other films. Every frame is constructed with a detail-oriented sense of care and the compositions in this movie are absolutely perfect from start to finish. Truly one of the finest examples of just how good a film can look made within the last fifteen years, Delicatessen is such a sumptuous looking movie that it's really hard to appreciate just how pretty it all is upon first viewing and as such, it holds up well and for that reason it has quite a bit of replay value. Repeat viewings ensure that you'll pick out little details that you didn't notice the first or even second time around.
The performances in the film are similarly fantastic. Dominique Pinon is completely sympathetic and a genuinely likeable guy in the film, we're able to feel for him and understand his plight and we honestly don't want to see him end up on someone's dinner plate. We're able to invest enough in his performance that we care about him and therefore we care about the outcome of the film, especially when his romance with Julie kicks in. To that mind, Marie-Laure Dougnac is adorable in her part, she's quirky and odd but there's a sweetness to her in the movie that suits the equally goofy sweetness that Louison carries about. The true star of the cast, however, is Jean-Claude Dreyfus who is over the top pretty much throughout the film and he brings a very funny persona to the movie that works well in the setting of the story. It helps as well that Dreyfus has some of the best lines of dialogue in the film, made even more memorable by his delivery (his interaction with the "Bullshit Detector" is classic!). Look for Jess Franco/Euro-cult regular Howard Vernon, who pops up in the film in a fun supporting role.
The story is quirky and while it's very dark it keep its tongue very much in cheek while the film takes us through the beautiful and freakish world that Jeunet and Caro have created. It's a strange film of contrasts, clashing horror with love and suspense with comedy, but it's a very original work that proves to be both interesting and entertaining at the same time. It isn't particularly thought provoking, and at times it seems to be simply weird for the sake of being weird, but those with a taste for surrealist black comedy should embrace the film with open arms.
Delicatessen – UHD/Blu-ray Review:
NOTE: As this review is based on an online screener provided by Severin Films for review purposes, the technical portion and the extras review for this release will is not complete. If/when finished product is made available, we’ll update this review accordingly.
The stream offered for review presents the movie in a 1080p high definition transfer, framed at 1.85.1, while the UHD would, obviously, be a HVEC encoded 2160p transfer “restored in 4K from the original camera negative by StudioCanal under the supervision of Jeunet.” Regardless, the stream looks nice despite the fact that it is obviously compressed because it’s a stream. There’s nice detail here and the colors really look very strong. Delicatessen makes use of a fairly unique color scheme, it’s heavy on Earth tones with a lot of brown and green worked into the visuals, that would presumably translate beautifully to a 4k edition given what the format can do with color reproduction and all. Black levels look solid as well.
Audio chores on the stream are handled by a French language 2.0 Stereo track with optional subtitles in English
Finished product will be a three-disc set with extras spread out across the set as follows:
Disc One (UHD):
-Audio Commentary With Co-Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet
-Trailer
Disc Two (Blu-ray):
-Audio Commentary With Co-Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet
-Interview With Co-Directors Jean-Pierre Jeunet And Marc Caro
-Fine Cooked Meats – The Making Of Delicatessen
-Copains Comme Cochons – Interview With Co-Director Marc Caro
-The Tale Of Terry Gilliam Presents Delicatessen – Interview With Terry Gilliam
-Trailer
Disc Three (Blu-ray):
-Main Course Pieces – A Retrospective
-Take Your Pig – Interview With Actor Jean-Claude Dreyfus
-Archival Interviews With Cast, Crew And Critics
-Jean-Pierre Jeunet Archives
-Le Bunker De La Derniere Rafale – Short Film By Jean-Pierre Jeunet And Marc Caro
This release will also come with an exclusive booklet to contain writing from Claire Donner of The Miskatonic Institute Of Horror Studies
Delicatessen – The Final Word:
Delicatessen holds up well, as wholly unique as it is charming and quirky. It’s a film full of fantastic art direction and great performances and Severin appears to have given it a proper special edition UHD/Blu-ray release.