Delicatessen
In a food-starved post-apocalyptic apartment block, a former clown and a butcher’s daughter challenge a grotesque system built on exploitation and survival.
Overview
In a world where food is a rare commodity, love blooms amidst the chaos of survival.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Moderate
- grotesque
- witty
- surreal
- cult movie night
- dark comedy night
What critics said
Critics broadly praised the film's inventive combination of dark comedy, science fiction, horror, and visually ravishing dystopian design, while noting occasional whimsy and unevenness.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The butcher's shop, food scarcity, and the use of people as an exploitable food supply turn economic domination into grotesque satire.
The decaying apartment building, butcher shop, underground spaces, and tactile mechanical details define the film's visual identity.
Louison and Julie's relationship directly conflicts with Clapet's plan to exploit the new maintenance worker.
The film combines disappearing tenants, cannibalistic threat, eccentric neighbors, and comic set pieces in a whimsical nightmare register.
Films like Delicatessen, and why
Brazil
Shares grotesque humor, surreal production design, dystopian fantasy, and a playful resistance to oppressive social systems.
The City of Lost Children
Combines eccentric dark comedy, post-apocalyptic scarcity, whimsical menace, and highly stylized visual world-building.
Amélie
Pairs macabre humor with romantic tenderness, fantastical production design, and exaggerated class tensions.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Uses cannibalistic satire, absurdist horror, and communal survival themes within a bizarrely comic dystopian setting.
Movie Details
- Directors
- Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Marc Caro
- Release Date
- 1991-04-17
- Runtime
- 99 min
- Rating
- 7.3 / 10 (1698)
Cast
- Dominique Pinon
- Marie-Laure Dougnac
- Jean-Claude Dreyfus
- Karin Viard
- Ticky Holgado
- Pascal Benezech
- Edith Ker
- Rufus
- Jacques Mathou
- Chick Ortega
Where to watch in United States
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Delicatessen about?
- In a food-starved post-apocalyptic apartment block, a former clown and a butcher’s daughter challenge a grotesque system built on exploitation and survival.
- What is Delicatessen like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Delicatessen as brisk, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Delicatessen violent?
- Somewhat. Ember rates the violence in Delicatessen as moderate.
- What did critics think of Delicatessen?
- Critics broadly praised the film's inventive combination of dark comedy, science fiction, horror, and visually ravishing dystopian design, while noting occasional whimsy and unevenness.
- Which films are like Delicatessen?
- Films with a similar feel include Brazil, The City of Lost Children, Amélie, and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
- How long is Delicatessen?
- Delicatessen runs 99 minutes.
- Where can I watch Delicatessen?
- In United States, Delicatessen is available to rent or buy from Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home.
