How would you react if you struck up a relationship with your dinner? Or, better yet, how would you feel if you were dinner? These are questions raised in Marc Caro's and Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Delicatessen, an extremely dark comedy which comes across as something of a morality tale for meat eaters.
Set in a post apocalyptic wasteland, the hungry and eccentric inhabitants of a rundown apartment building resort to cannibalism to appease their appetites. Clapet (Jean-Claude Dreyfus), the butcher and landlord of said building, lures visitors via a job advertisement, and then slaughters them and sell various parts to his tenants. An out of work clown named Louison (Dominique Pinon) is drawn by said ad, and like a lamb to the slaughter, he is taken in. Louison's playful personality catches the attention of Clapet's daughter, Julie (Marie-Laure Dougnac), a vegetarian who despises her father. Along with a group of underground vegetarians, Julie plans to save Louison and take her father down.
Delicatessen is a quirky and innovative film, which benefits form the keen visual eye of Caro and Jeunet who - much like Terry Gilliam and Tim Burton before them - have developed a unique look and style all their own. There is a slight bronze tinge throughout the film, a rusty glow no doubt brought on by the numerous sandstorms battering which ever buildings are still standing after what ever mysterious incident laid the world to waste.
Those who survived the apocalyptic incident are a weird mob, and have been cast very well. Pinon stands out with his unique facial features (which makes him one scary looking clown in full garb), and Dreyfus is spectacularly sinister.
A couple of key scenes highlight the eccentricity of the film. The first is a humorous love making scene, which quickly turns into a well edited, sub-musical moment which showcases how much in tune these tenants are with each other. The second is a creepy, horrific dream sequence which musters up more genuine scares than any Hostel film ever could.
The ability of Caro and Jeunet to be able to create a funny and entertaining film based on such dark subject matter - while not resorting to cheap theatrics or sickening visuals - is a triumph in itself, and one of many reasons as to why Delicatessen is such a great and unique viewing experience.