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Delicatessen Movie Review

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Sci-Fi/Fantasy Comedy & Personal Dramas Action Dramas
Actors: Dominique Pinon, Marie-Laure Dougnac, Jean-Claude Dreyfus
Review Summary and Plot Commentary about Delicatessen
This dark comedy, set in a nightmarish realm, depicts the goings-on in a creepy apartment house. Basic commodities are scarce, so the conniving landlord literally makes mincemeat out of passersbys. The building's new handyman investigates why people keep disappearing, and at the same time woos the landlord's daughter.

--Elana Starr, Resident Scholar

In the not-too-distant, post-apocalyptic future, food is so rare as to be valued as money, and meat an extremely rare delicacy. A sweet, heroic, but out-of-work clown named Louison (Pinon) applies for a job as a handyman for a delicatessen. Unfortunately, as he has several times before, the butcher plans to fatten up the new employee and then serve him to the other goofy tenants in the building, who include a man who lives in a foot of water with his frogs and snails, a woman determined to commit suicide, and two brothers who make toys that say "moo." Louison and the butcher's timid, near-sighted daughter Julie make beautiful music together (figuratively as well as literally -- she on cello and he on musical saw), and she chooses to thwart her father's nefarious plans by contacting the underground (again, literally) rebels -- who eat lentils. This cartoon-like, oddball 1991 sci-fi comedy brought the imaginative writing and directing team Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet to the attention of Americans, shortly before they gave us "City of Lost Children" and "Amelie."
--David Loftus, Resident Scholar




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Analysis of Delicatessen
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Composition of Movie
Actual chase scenes or violence - 20%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzle - 30%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 50%



**Fantasy or Science Fiction?** - science fiction story
Parody movie? Yes
Horror film? Yes
Kind of Horror Story - madman who likes to slice

Main Character
Identity: - Male
Profession/status: - unemployed
Age: - 20's-30's
Eccentric: Yes
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events? Yes
Body type - average (man) - muscular (man)
Events of movie makes character more... - happy
Ethnicity/Nationality - French
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor? - Strong but gentle sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - Very athletic - average physique

Secondary Main Character
Identity: - Female
Hair color - blonde
Hair style - (woman) medium/shoulderlgn wavy
Body type - very skinny (female) - average (female)
How much in movie? - 40% - 80%

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 40's-50's - 60's-90's
Profession/status: - small businessman
Eccentric: Yes
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - 40% - 80%
Ethnicity - French
Sense of humor? - Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence - Average Intelligence
Physical condition - average physique
How sensitive is this character? - hard edged

Setting
Earth setting: - near future (later in 21st century)
Takes place on Earth? Yes
Big cities? Yes
Misc settings - bar/restaurant
Kind of city - Dirty, crime-ridden (like NY)

Style
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment - moderately detailed references to deaths
Tone of movie - funny
Comedy or somewhat funny movie? Yes
Sex/nudity in movie? Yes
What kind of sex: - seeing breasts - sex under blankets
Non-American film? Yes
What language? - French
Subtitles? - Yes
Any profanity? - Occasional swearing
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