The title credit for Delicatessen reads "Presented by Terry Gilliam," and it's easy to understand why the director of Brazil was so supportive of this outrageously black French comedy from 1991. Like Gilliam, French codirectors Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro have wildly inventive imaginations that gravitate to the darker absurdities of human behavior, and their visual extravagance is matched by impressive technical skill. Here, making their feature debut, Jeunet and Caro present a postapocalyptic scenario set entirely in a dank and gloomy building where the landlord operates a delicatessen on the ground floor. But this is an altogether meatless world, so the butcher-landlord keeps his customers happy by chopping unsuspecting victims into cutlets, and he's sharpening his knife for a new tenant (French comic actor Dominque Pinon) who's got the hots for the butcher's nearsighted daughter! Delicatessen is a feast (if you will) of hilarious vignettes, slapstick gags, and sweetly eccentric characters, including a man in a swampy room full of frogs, a woman doggedly determined to commit suicide (she never gets its right), and a pair of brothers who make toy sound boxes that "moo" like cows. It doesn't amount to much as a story, but that hardly matters; this is the kind of comedy that springs from a unique wellspring of imagination and inspiration, and it's handled with such visual virtuosity that you can't help but be mesmerized. There's some priceless comedy happening here, some of which is so inventive that you may feel the urge to stand up and cheer. --Jeff Shannon

From Jean-Pierre Jeunet the award-winning director of AMELIE comes a unique and surreal dark comedy that received overwhelming critical acclaim! In a post-apocalyptic society where meat is scarce cannibalism is no longer unsavory. And when a young ex-clown takes a job in a dilapidated deli he's completely unaware that the butcher plans to serve him to the building's bizarre tenants! But when the butcher s nearsighted daughter falls for the clown she'll go to absurd lengths to foil her father's plan! Loaded with tasty bonus features this bonafide cult classic now premieres on DVD!Bonus Features:1. Feature Commentary By Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet2. Fine-Cooked Meats: A Nod To DELICATESSEN3. The Archives Of Jean-Pierre Jeunet4. Theatrical Trailer5. DELICATESSEN TEASERSSystem Requirements:Running Time 99 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: R UPC: 786936694482 Manufacturer No: 04962200

I'm a fan of this director's later work but this one just didn't do anything for me.

It's not common that I find something that's too weird for me, but this kinda was..

I just didn't get it.

It was well shot and acted, but I felt the story fell flat.

This movie is a dark comedy set in a post-apocalyptic France when meat is scarce, but humans are not. The only viable choice - to eat other humans. But what happens when the man who was slated for dinner tonight turns out to be an indispensable worker and captures the heart of the butcher's daughter?

Glad to find the movie. Quick shipping. All was just fine. Thanks!

Set in a rotting wasteland where food and barter replace money, Dominque Pinon's unemployed clown (a gentle-natured cross between Popeye and Klaus Kinski) takes a job as handyman-cum-dinner in a rundown apartment owned by a butcher who hacks up the hired help to feed his other, not too morally particular residents. Complications ensue when he falls in love with the butcher's daughter and she enlists the aid of an underground group of vegetarian terrorists to help her save him. The butcher himself is beginning to feel remorse ("No-one is entirely evil. It's the circumstances, or we don't know what we're doing") but that doesn't stop him trying to make mincemeat out of his prospective son-in-law. There's more, but you probably won't believe me.

What starts out as just your average cannibalism comedy gradually wins you over, drawing you into the damaged lives of the block's credibly eccentric inhabitants, and even comes up with an entirely new way to get out of a trapped bathroom, but not one I'd recommend trying at home (unless you're being pursued by a cannibalistic butcher, of course). Nice little touches abound, such as the butcher's clumsy short-sighted daughter buying two of everything in case she breaks them or the granny who has tin cans tied to her so that her family can find her if she gets lost (no prizes for guessing what happens to her). You may not think you'll like it, but you probably will in spite of yourself...

The muted sepia tones are well captured, and there's an excellent extras package as well, including a genuinely informative audio commentary by Jean-Pierre Jeunet on a disc well worth buying - if it's to your taste.

"Delicatessen" is a French cult classic. It's a bit of a morbid story with cute little twists. The characters are neat (interesting developments). There is a romance or two. I saw the movie when it first came out and it made an impression on me then and it still does today. It's cute and creepy at the same time. Jean-Claude Dreyfus as the butcher was superb. Try it out! French language with English subtitles makes it easier to understand.