La Grande Bouffe

It seems hard to believe in this day and age that Marco Ferreri's broad and often hilarious comedy could have caused such a furore upon it's initial release WAY back in '73. The plot of Ferreri's opus is a very simple one indeed: four rather influential and professional men decide to spend time in a country mansion and literally eat themselves to death.

Quite why they have embaked... sorry, embarked on this rather singular course of action is never really properly explained, though it is suggested that each of them feels they have nothing more to live for. In any case, director Ferreri will let you come to your own conclusion.

The four friends in question are Marcello (Mastroianni) - an airline pilot, Philippe (Noirot) - a magistrate who happens to own the mansion, Michel (Piccoli) - a TV executive, and Ugo (Tognazzi) - the French Marco Pierre White of his day (sans vitriolic personality). I wonder whether Ugo used Knorr stock cubes? The actors use their real names - perhaps this made it easier throughout filming. As with a number of this 'controversial' director’s films, a lot of the action was left to the actors to improvise. The amount of food these four rather lovable guys go through is a gigantic feast for the eyes… but ultimately a pain for the digestive tract, leading to severe flatulence. You should either be sick (like jury member Ingrid Bergman was at the screening at the Cannes Festival) or salivating.

Pity there isn't space to list all the dishes - but you can get that with the booklet included in the set. Marcello is the sex maniac of the quartet and informs Philippe that he cannot go through with the decadent food plan as he 'needs to ‘fuck' - despite the fact that he is actually impotent. No problem! Soon, a trio of good-time girls arrive to bring a bit of joy and kink into what is left of the lives of the four doomed men. However, before their arrival the four heroes (good blokes that they are) have arranged for a party of school children to visit the rambling country mansion and taste some of their culinary delights. Accompanied by their voluptuous schoolteacher Andréa (Ferréol), an earth mother if ever there was one (the actress was actually only 26 at the time). The somewhat naive Philippe takes a liking to her and invites her to the party they are having with the aforementioned girls the next night. Within no time, the timid and romantically inclined Philippe proposes to her. Would you believe it - said Andrea is more at home in this situation than the three prostitutes and not only ends up staying for the duration of the banquet but she sleeps with all of them. Not that the docile Phillipe minds in the slightest.

As the feast descends ever more into excess gluttony, decadence and vulgarity (and prolonged farts) sooner or later someone has to kick the bucket first. This is rather splendidly done when Marcello is found on the grounds seated in his vintage Bugatti, frozen solid (in case you are wondering, it is set during deepest winter). A plaintive picture it makes, with the weeping Michel falling to pieces. Alas, there is still a lot more to be consumed before the next one goes…
The four actors happened to be good friends of director Marco Ferreri and had all featured in his films before. No doubt this must have added considerably to the on-set chemistry. A happy family then, from a technical point of view!
Disgusting as some prudes may have found or may find the film, it is considerably beyond the trash as exemplified in crude British ‘seaside farces’.
Enter this kitchen at your own peril!

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS of this Dual Edition release include:

* Brand new 2K restoration of the original camera negative
* High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation
* Original French audio (uncompressed PCM on the Blu-ray)
* Newly translated English subtitles
* The Farcical Movie – A French television profile of Marco Ferreri from 1975 in which the director discusses, among other things, the influence of Tex Avery, Luis Buñuel and Tod Browning’s ‘Freaks’
* Behind-the-scenes footage of the making of La Grande bouffe, containing interviews with Ferrari and actors Marcello Mastroianni, Michel Piccoli, Ugo Tognazzi and Philippe Noiret
* Extracts from the television series Couleurs autour d’un festival featuring interviews with the cast and crew recorded during the Cannes Film Festival
* A visual essay on the film with by Italian film scholar Pasquale Iannone
* Select scene audio commentary by Iannone
* News report from the Cannes Film Festival where La Grande bouffe caused a controversial stir, including Ferreri at the press conference
* Original Trailer
* Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Gilles Vranckx
* Booklet featuring new writing on the film by Johnny Mains, illustrated with original archive stills