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Film & TV on DVD - John Doe Film News & Reviews

Greetings Film Fiends and welcome to John Doe's Film Blog. 30 years of dedicated celluloid obsession has meant that I have seen a few films. Drawing attention to some of the lesser discussed gems that I love. Cult classics, obscure curios and quality genre pictures. This blogs purpose is to translate some of my passion for these films and with luck, inspire you the reader to go check em out.

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La Grande Bouffe (1973) - Footage Included

La Grande Bouffe

My mouth began watering when John Doe asked me to post some film reviews while he's Gone Hollywood, so of course, first up, I'm indulging my taste for that which needs to be acquired. They don’t make films like this anymore: a gastronomic, carnal descent loaded with witticism and laced with cynicism, or a brilliant satire on bourgeoisie apathy and contempt. Either way Marco Ferreri’s squid ink comedy La Grande Bouffe (1973) is a rich, savoury dish unto its bitter self.

Four affluent middle-aged men arrange a weekend of utter indulgence; primarily the consumption of food, but sex rears its urgent head from time to time. They’ve had enough, disgusted with their lot, intent only on the devouring of the culture that has made them who they are. You are what you eat, more or less.

The pilot, Marcello (Marcello Mastrioanni), the chef Ugo (Ugo Tognazzi), the TV producer Michele (Michel Piccoli) and the judge Philippe (Philippe Noiret) leave their high-paying jobs and arrive at a quaint, somewhat disheveled, mansion in the Parisian hinterland that lonely Philippe has inherited. It is here that the four men will retire, psychologically and physically. The ample food begins to arrive by truck, sides of lamb and venison, whole pigs, fowl upon fowl upon fowl upon fowl.

Michel Piccoli, Philppe Noiret, Ugo Tognazzi, Marcello Mastrioanni

Then three game prostitutes; Danielle (Solange Blondeau), Anne (Florence Giorgetti) and Nicole (Michèle Alexandre), are hired as lusty side dishes, and finally a local school teacher Andrea (Andréa Ferreol), who happens to be on a field trip, is invited to join the party (which she does after her class). It is Andrea who ultimately relishes the lengthy degustation.

La Grande Bouffe Andrea Ferreol and Philippe Noiret

Andrea Ferreol with Philippe and drumstick

La Grande Bouffe is a French/Italian co-production. The title doesn’t translate accurately into English; "The Big Eat" is about as close as you’ll get (in the UK it is sometimes known as The Big Blow-Out). It is a highly unusual film in that it plays with so many of the Euro conventions of the period; the male chauvinism, the intellectual volleying, the artistic attention to detail, and the boundary-pushing marinade of sex and food, life and death.

Alas poor Swine, I knew him Piggy!

It’s a very small ensemble cast, impeccably chosen; from the four leads, curiously each using their own real name, to the plump schoolteacher, to the three leggy women of ill repute. The male pigs pig themselves, they snort, grunt and fart, and generally wallow in self-pity, moral debauchery, and the cuisine of the aristocracy. The school teacher is surprisingly engaged by the whole gluttonous affair. The prostitutes, on the other hand, quickly become ill, rather than sated, and eventually bail.

La Grande Bouffe Solange Blondeau and Marcello Mastrioanni

Solange Blondeau as the redhead courtesean Danielle

Only fitting then that the final dish of the day is a massive mixed pâté (goose, chicken and duck); a temple of foie gras sludge on the large kitchen table, where chef Ugo steadily ingests, with the handy assistance of Andrea whom adds a decadent tug. If you’re gonna expire excessively, one might as well expire at the peak of pleasure, if you get my priapic drift.

I've heard of breast meat, but this is ridiculous!

La Grande Bouffe is one of those movies you’ve heard about but never seen. Its cult following has been further fuelled by the fact that it is a hard film to come by. VHS and DVD copies are a rarity (the out of print copies that surface from time to time on ebay can fetch up to $US100). Still, it is a film to be savoured, perhaps not as much as a foodie flick (one that makes you want to indulge the pantry immediately after viewing), but more so as a cinephilic decadent curio about art, sex and consumption.

Chef Ugo's piece de resistance

The movie’s wry wit captured beautifully in the screenplay by Ferreri, Rafael Azcona and Francis Blanche is something to be eaten like a sweet delicacy. Swirl its themes around inside your mind as if it were the finest Belgian chocolate melting upon your tongue. Treat the tone like it was a truffle-streaked bowl of tagliatelle. Ponder the ambiguity with the sharp tang of a fruity tart. Devour the lushness with little regard to its grim, surrealist denouement.

Yes, La Grande Bouffe is a funny film, an offensive film, but not a film about realism. It’s a film about parallels and juxtapositions, analogies and metaphors. It’s an intellectual film for the base and primal at heart. And for those who enjoy an applied scatological sense of humour. Prepare some delicious finger food, pop the corks on a few decent bottles of Grenache and pinot noir … and chow down!

“What about the turkey stuffing?” asks one of the men, “Life is stuffing!” is the reply.

Here is one of movie's many scenes of eating and pontificating ... relish!!

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September 13th 2007 @ 05:40

Posted By: Bryn - Category: Foreign

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Comments

10 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

1. September 13th 2007 @ 23:54. Damo Says:

This film used to do the rounds of the old Vahalla Cinerma in Melbourne years ago.
To be honest it was a film I tried to avoid. Though it may seem tame compared to the exploding guy in The Meaning of Life. No quite my taste (no pun intended)

Excellent review of rare cult film

Horrorphile

2. September 17th 2007 @ 01:08. Bryn Says:

Damo, nothing like Meaning of Life, much, much darker and bleaker, about as lewd, but less surreal.

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3. September 17th 2007 @ 05:43. Cibbuano Says:

You freak! I've been trying to get this movie... I'm thinking about buying it on Amazon. I love the premise...

great review!

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4. September 17th 2007 @ 05:44. Cibbuano Says:

bah! I want to see this!

Horrorphile

5. September 18th 2007 @ 03:07. Bryn Says:

Cibby, yeah, it would be great to have seen in the cinemas! You'll be lucky to find it on Amazon ...I had to purchase it on ebay last year ... cost me around $80!!

Film & TV on DVD

6. September 18th 2007 @ 16:09. JohnDoe Says:

Great work Bryn...I love this film (as you know), I actually saw a copy on DVD in L.A and was tempted to pick it up ($39.99), but hey you havea copy so I will just borrow yours when I need to witness the gluttonous, decedance...they play it on world movies quite frequently.

A fantastic choice and thanks you for keeping my site alive while I travel the U.S of A.

culinarian
culinarian ask the chef

7. September 25th 2007 @ 01:06. David John Burke Says:

i loove this film as the end shows the tremendous waste of the whole film with the meat delivery being dumped staight onto the lawn as the last man dies from a sugar overload. this is for me the most memorable scene of the whole flick, awesome

Horrorphile

8. September 25th 2007 @ 04:10. Bryn Says:

David, lovely that you found such richness from such gluttony!