La Grande Bouffe (1973)

  'La Grande Bouffe' is a 1973 French film directed by Marco Ferreri, starring Marcello Mastroianni, Michel Piccoli and Phillipe Noiret.

  Four gentlemen decide to take a holiday in a remote country house, and eat themselves to death. Two prostitutes and a school teacher decide to keep them company.

  I finally got round to watching the infamous 'La Grande Bouffe', widely known as one of the craziest films ever made. It's a film that is more likely to appear on WTF film lists, then top 100 film lists. Marco Ferreri has made a career of directing some strange films, my favourite being 'Bye Bye Monkey' where "A man walking on the beach near New York City finds the corpse of King Kong. He also finds Kong's orphaned son, and decides to raise it". Ferreri hasn't made any famous, or even critically acclaimed films, but damn are they crazy.

  A film where four men eat food until they die sounds pretty depressing, but the film is alot more fun then it sounds. The characters are filled with expression, similar to other Italian comedies, but here they are go completely over-the-top and then some. Ferrari lets the actors go off the hook, with some of the craziest performances I have seen. The four men are four of the best Italian actors who have ever lived, starring in films from 'Cinema Paradiso' to 'Belle de Jour'. Most notable is Marcello Mastroianni, who I think is the greatest Italian actor who has ever lived, with an unparalleled screen presence.

  The film is also severely grotesque, due to the large amounts of food consumed. Who ever said you shouldn't play with your food? The large plates filled with extravagant dishes of chickens, crepes, and juicy pig heads, are being gratuitously stuffed into by the four men. No table manners whatsoever, they just grab into the food with their hands. The film is grotesque in a sexual way, with the sexual pleasures of the men being performed in a disgusting way, with ugly bodies and even involving some of the food. This does include the occasional sex ontop of a cake. What makes the film genius is that all of this is purely intentional on Ferreri's part. It made me have so many different reactions, from laughing to almost vomiting, which makes the film both memorable and entertaining. Although I can't say I want to ever watch it again.

TO CONCLUDE
Italian humour pushed to it's most extreme. It's immature, disgusting and hunger inducing, but I strangely liked it.

SCORE
75