Das große Fressen

If you want to see what freedom of artistry and wild imagination is all about, don't miss this movie. It's a one of a kind and leaves you wondering - why don't they make movies like these anymore? OK, so it's grosse, and anarchic, and discomforting. But it's also a brilliant tragicomic story about four middle-aged friends who lock themselves away in a country house and feast literally to death. Plus there's this unbeatable quartet of actors - Mastroianni, Piccoli, Noiret and Tognazzi - playing roles with their own Christian names, which says a lot about artistic honesty. A pity there are no more Marco Ferreris around. 9/10

'La Grande Bouffe' (aka 'Blow-Out') is an extraordinary movie, the kind of movie you just can't imagine getting made these days. While shot through with black humour it is very sad and depressing, and for me just as bleak as say, 'Leaving Las Vegas'. Instead of alcohol these dissatisfied men decide to kill themselves using food. Marcello Mastroianni is the best known of the four stars but Michel Piccoli (Belle De Jour), Ugo Tognazzi and and Philippe Noiret are equally impressive. The acting from all four is first rate and really makes the premise believable. Director Marco Ferreri went on to make the Bukowski adaptation 'Tales Of Ordinary Madness' another uncompromising, f*cked up and beautiful movie. I highly recommend both films which are difficult viewing, but worth the effort.

Superb black comedy of an ageing quartet gathered for a feast of epic proportions in which they indulge every gluttonous whim with culinary abandon. Their erotic gorging, groping and fondling of food and flesh is both appetising and arresting, as one by one, they stuff themselves to morbidity. It's with a tinge of sadness that their food fornication gradually comes to a halt, when the last man can no longer manage another morsel.

Those who appreciate gourmet cooking might find appeal in the vast menu, but will likely be shocked by the flatulence-passing, naked-backside food preparation techniques of these randy chefs. The cast periodically combine their appetite for food with unbridled sexual encounters while they prepare meals, to which the viewer is treated in heaving detail. But while the sets, costumes and dialogue are all, equally colourful, there's a distinct lack of momentum and coherent storyline in the near two-and-a-half hour epic.

The cast are formidable in their distinct characterisations (and appetites), and it seems as though each has resigned to his own despair at a life unfulfilled. While Mastroianni does little cooking by comparison with Piccoli, he more than compensates with his sexual appetite at any number of the prostitutes assembled for their last supper. "Le Grande Bouffe" is a raw, uncompromising dark comedy like no other and needs to be seen to be believed.

This movie was so colorful...I just never forgot it and the concept was engaging. I saw this movie in San Francisco in '73 or '74... I cannot remember all the details in order, but yes, three guys went to a villa in the countryside of France and ordered huge amounts of food to be delivered. At first, you just thought it was a fun party, then it got to be bigger and bigger...women came by, etc, etc. I had lived in Europe just prior to seeing this movie and I so enjoyed the scenery and just the ambiance. I assumed it was not a what they would call a full running movie and just played in certain theaters but a place like San Francisco in the 70's had the right audience.

The two other Marco Ferreri films I've seen, Dillinger Is Dead and Bye Bye Monkey, I found utterly boring, I must admit. I was a little wary of La grande bouffe, though I had always wanted to see it. I've always been drawn to stories where a group of people (or more usually a couple) lock themselves up together and slowly kill themselves, or screw each others brains out. In this film, four men (Marcello Mastroianni, Michel Piccoli, Philippe Noiret and Ugo Tognazzi, all playing characters who use the actors' real first names) come together in a palatial estate to screw prostitutes and eat themselves to death. No real reason is given. The prostitutes don't make it very long. The constant feasting disgusts them, and they leave. The only woman who does stay is a Reubenesque teacher named Andrea (Andrea Ferreol), who is intrigued by both the food and sex (unlike the other women, the idea of food and sex together turns her on). This movie is a tad too slow. At it's best, though, it's fascinating and hilariously gross. Food seems quite unappetizing after about a half hour of this. I loved the performances. Definitely of interest.