Delicatessen (Studio Canal Collection) [Blu-ray]

Specifications:

Case Type - Book style case with removeable booklet.

Disc - 50GB, MPEG-4 AVC encoded, Regions A and B.

Video - 1.85:1 Aspect Ratio in a 16:9 frame, Colour, 1080p/24fps

Audio - Original French DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo and dubbed German and Spanish DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo.

Subtitles - Optional English, German, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish, Japanese, Castilian Spanish and Latin American Spanish. Subtitles avaialble on all supplements too.

Supplements -
Jean-Pierre Jeunet Commentary.
'Main Course Pieces' Retrospective Documentary (1hr 5mins).
'Fine Cooked Pork Meats' behind the scenes featurette (13mins).
'Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Archives' featurette (8mins).
Theatrical Trailer .
Teaser Trailer compilation.

Censorship? - No censorship or cuts. The BBFC passed the film with a certficate 15 without cuts, and it contains one use of strong language, some moderate violence, a comedic sex scene, and a cannibalism and suicide theme.

'Delicatessen' and not a film that requires repeated viewing, however it does get more enjoyable on repeated viewings. The atmosphere of the film is similar to Terry Gilliam's work. Most notably 'Brazil' (Jean-Pierre Jeunet mentions this in the documentary). Set in a post-apocalyptic France where meat is rare and the form of currency is in grain. There is no definate time period. It looks like a dirty, depressingly possible future yet could quite easily be set in the 1940's (like Gilliam's 'Brazil'). The dark humour is sick but very tastefully done - A butcher resorts to cannibalism and kills his tennants, a Woman tries numerous ways to take her own life and constantly fails. However the films best scene is the superb editing of the sex scene. We don't actually see the couple copulating only the matress and bed springs creaking. This is intercut with various characters in the film - one beats a rug, one paints the wall, another is using his bike pump. Its hilarious and is also used as the films theatrical trailer.

The Blu-ray is an exceptional package. The picture is superb with no sign of edge enhancement or DNR. There is plenty of grain (as intended by the film makers according to interviews in the documentary) and the film looks sharp with deep blacks and retains the orangey look the director's wanted. The audio is presented in the original stereo and not re-mixed or made into false 5.1. The dialogue can be low in some scenes but overall it sounds good. Supplementary material is excellent with behind the scenes footage and an excellent brand new documentary (exclusive to this Blu-ray edition?). The disc is same one used throughout America and Europe (hence Regions A and B encoded).
'Delicatessen' is a wonderful film full of surprises and surreal dark humour. Heavily influenced by Terry Gilliam, Sergio Leone, and even the nightmarish dream sequence could have been directed by David Lynch. This blu-ray is the best version to get with a superb transfer and a decent documentary, and i feel its definately worth upgrading from dvd. A worthy addition to anyones blu-ray library. Recommended.

Take the surrealist `sixties British comedy The Bed Sitting Room, blend it with elements of Sweeney Todd and if you have enough French humour to add into the mix then you may come somewhere close to Delicatessen. The film is set during an unknown time after some sort of unspecified but presumably apocalyptic event. Food is scarce and the delicatessen at the base of an apartment block accepts grain as currency in exchange for meat, but with there being no land suitable for pasture, meat is a scarce commodity - luckily butcher and landlord Clapet has a regular supply of livestock.

After answering a job advert, ex-circus performer Louison finds himself Clapet's latest lodger and on site handyman, though it's a position which tends not to last for long. Unaware that he is due to be sold as steaks, joints and mince, Louison is enthusiastic about his role and manages to befriend the daughter of his employer. There's little plot to this French cult title, instead we have a strange set-up full of even stranger characters and it's their quirky ways which form the main substance of the picture. Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet's collaboration has resulted in a dark comedy with plenty of visual humour from the funniest sex scene ever to botched suicide attempts. The grim plot doesn't make this a grisly film, it's light hearted, wacky and farcical in the right places. It's almost like a cartoon translated into live-action and Dominique Pinon is superb in the lead role, his face is oddly handsome and so expressive, he has an almost childlike quality to him which makes him captivating to watch. Every single character in the apartment block is uniquely odd and there isn't one weak performance in the entire film, though their personalities tend to be larger than life and over-the-top, it never looks contrived or fake, it's a strangely plausible world which has been created for them.

For those who have never seen the film before, the Blu-Ray transfer may appear shocking at first with large levels of film grain. This was a very low budget film though and much of the grain is for artistic effect - especially during the outdoor scenes where we get a hint of the ruins. There is still a surprising amount of detail and it's a massive improvement over the DVD, maybe the DVD compression struggled to balance between texture and grain, but on the Blu-Ray the details of fabrics and faces are excellent given the nature of the source material. There's a hue to the overall picture (much like in Amelie or MicMacs) and the golden look is initially striking but your eyes adjust and it seems perfectly natural after a while, it also adds a fantasy feel to events. Initially the bonuses don't look extensive but there are some tasty morsels here. The 'making-of' is interesting if slightly rough looking, and a retrospective look by cast and crew reveals the fondness still felt for this quirky film. The directorial style has been described to as Terry Gilliam-esque, Jeunet himself discusses Gilliam's influence and its clear that the film is something off a nod to the ex-Python. A trailer consisting of the previously mentioned sex scene makes me chuckle every time - it's like a late night Morcambe and Wise sketch! This release also comes with a rather lovely book to accompany the film,

In a nutshell: A truly fun film which is loved by those who consider it essential viewing (me included), the pace dips slightly towards the water-filled ending but what a brilliant way to start a career for Jeunet, his trademark eccentric ensembles works well here and went on to produce one of the best films of 2009 with MicMacs.

Superb film that you will want to watch again and again. Brilliant characters, original and unique. Even if you don't normally watch foreign language films, the ability of the actors to visualise their emotions removes any language barrier.