Set several years after a nuclear war has wiped out most of humanity, Delicatessen tells the story of a landlord of an apartment building who occasionally prepares a delicacy for his odd tenants.
If we take the idea of a romantic comedy set in the ruins of a dead society and dressed up with cannibal horror seriously at all, it's hard to see how it could turn out better than this.
With their detached, sardonic and decidedly sick slant, Jeunet and Caro have served up a burnt-to-a-crisp feast.
Chicago Reader
June 05, 2007
There are no characters to care about or remember afterward -- just a lot of flashy technique involving decor, some glib allegorical flourishes, and the obligatory studied film-school weirdness.
What will filmmakers Jeunet and Caro serve for dessert in their next movie? Something equally daring, one hopes -- but more thoroughly cooked and a bit easier to swallow.
With its molelike inhabitants, its sprawling war between flesh-eaters and lentil-men, its achingly sweet love story and surrealist blend of dusty antiquities and 21st-century gizmos, Delicatessen is indescribably wild.
