Institute History
Description
The old building stands somewhat apart from the rest of the city, against a backdrop of desolation; on its first floor is a butcher shop. Unfortunately food supplies are very short, but all the building’s residents manage to eat and eat well, having secured a steady source of meat. They are a rather remarkable group: the Tapioca family, Mr. and Mrs. Interligator (a couple of dreadful snobs), the Kube brothers (who manufacture boxes that moo when turned upside down), Mr. Potin (holed up in his haven of frogs and snails), and Miss Plusse (a lady of questionable virtue). When Louison arrives as the butcher’s new assistant and begins a relationship with the butcher’s daughter, Julie (the one strait-aced inhabitant in this “asylum”), things get rolling. Meanwhile the sewer-dwelling Troglodistes, the rebel vegetarians, make their move. Trust the French to reinvent the comedy of the absurd with food at its center.
This hilarious black comedy, fresh from a first prize at the Tokyo International Film Festival, comes to you nonstop with a vivid visual style and acerbic wit. It’s demented, yes, but marvelously inventive and entertaining. Delicatessen is an auspicious feature film debut for filmmakers Caro and Jeunet.