There are some movies which after viewing leave you absolutely reeling. You are gobsmacked, awed, confused, and experience a bevy of other emotions which you can’t really comprehend at the moment. You decide to suspend judgment until later; until your faculties have sufficiently composed themselves to think clearly and unequivocally about the content which has been viewed. No, I’m not talking about the really bad, the monstrously terrible ones, no, in fact I’m alluding to their exact antitheses; the masterpieces.

Delicatessen in French refers to a meathouse, home of the butcher, and it is a most juicy, tender and delectable pie of a film, not unlike a meatpie…

The stage is Orvellian in nature with the “proles” fighting for food and survival with the upper classes holding control. We are shown a dystopian world where a seemingly mad butcher is the landlord of a ravaged apartment building which is desperate need of fixing and is home to a bunch of zany and frankly insane characters. The rules of the game are simple; pay rent and live, don’t pay and well…the butcher simply carves you up with his ominously sharp cleaver and sells your meat.

Enter a young man, fresh from circus and multitalented. He is hired by King Butcher as the go-to man for plumbing, painting, etc. He meets the B’s daughter and the two quickly plunge into love. Their love is as harmonic as the instruments which they play in tandem (the cello and a musical saw) are asynchronous. Knowing the dark doings which happen on the staircase at night, the daughter wishes to flee with Mr Fix-it-all and to do so enlists the help of a secret underground organisation, a society of rebellious proles who agree to kidnap the young man in return for sacks of grain. This sets the plot for a multitude of hilarious mishappenings, which ends with the poetic justice of the butcher dying of a deep cut inflicted by a sharp (boomerang) knife.

Delicatessen has so many scenes which are still vivid in my mind, chief among them being the one where the butcher fornicates with his young lover (a charged woman with fire for voice) on a squeaky bed and the different tenants perform their duties to the rhythm of the duo’s thrusting and shaking activities. This scene highlights the mind boggling creativity of the directors in envisioning it and bringing it to life so spectacularly. As I previously mentioned, first bemusement, then awe, then laughter. All the actors jump into their roles with such verve and enthusiasm that credibility is duly lent to such an apocalyptic and unreal environment and one forgets that one is witnessing a world solely created by the writer’/directors’ mind. From the bloodthirsty madness of the butcher, the improvisational and talented young man, to the sweet and innocent daughter braving unknown territory in the noble name of love, and the fiery and loudmouthed mistress, these are rich and vivid characters which stick. And I haven’t even talked about the fat woman, the postman, the woman with the ‘voices’ in her head et al!

The direction, arguably, is as unconventional and zany as the scenes, characters, and the whole atmosphere are. Delicatessen stands to show how limitless and creative human imagination can be, vast and unending, and how, when manifested rightly, can create art and true genius. It definitely and absolutely deserves a second viewing and more for I’m certain there are more delights that I have missed the first time. This is a film which I love and I’m sure you will too!

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