La Grande Bouffe (1973)

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

This movie surely has some stories to tell. There are several layers and morals that enroll throughout the plot. Generally, I think that the plot is the strong point of this title, presenting something you didn't see in that way probably.As a matter of fact, I don't see many obvious weaknesses. It is quite long but that somehow fits the more subtle and quiet tone of the film. But of course, that also characterizes the movie. There are no huge turnarounds or breathtaking actions, you merely see people voluntarily ruining themselves.A film that can make you think, a film that isn't as scandalous as it is put in my eyes, yet surely not a film for everybody. But if you take your time and give it a serious chance, this movie has a lot to offer.

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 brook another chocolate pudding or roast pig.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 full 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. I submit, respectfully, there's only so many kitchen orgies one film can sustain (particularly as this isn't a loop) without a more concrete purpose.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 comedy like no other and should be seen to be believed.

This is a sort of adventure in shocking an audience. It failed with me because I've been exposed to so many more incisive things.But I like the way it is put together. It is a sort of "Love's Labors Lost" meets "8 1/2 Women." Though both those films came after, they are far superior.Four men gather in order to eat themselves to death via gourmet food. They attempt it in remote solitude, but love and sex intrude. First, we have some prostitutes, then a chubby local schoolmarm who falls for them all. The sex — with her — is tender, never hungry and significant. She becomes a sort of witness, our surrogate in the thing, watching as each of her lovers expire from life, because of determined living.There is a scene copied later a much better in "8 1/2 Women" where our woman masturbates an old man while he expires. There it is a gift; here a duty. And that's the problem — the thing has no poetry. Sure, there are plenty of attempted metaphors, but they all seem mechanical.The grand sweep has us with relationships as passion, passion as sex, sex as consumption, consumption leading to death. A meal late in the game is "ass tart." I think this could be done effectively and may have been done somewhere. But meanwhile, I recommend the later films.Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

Well, I must say that this is a "strong" movie. It feels like a punch in the stomach. The way that the plot unfolds the characters, and lets them fall into the abyss of lust for flesh and material satisfaction is so powerful, that I could really feel the pain of that punch in my stomach after wards. The way that comedy and drama are constantly mixed on this film is extraordinary. I haven't seen anything like it, wanting to laugh, feeling disgust, sorrow and sympathy at the same time during a scene. And such scenes are all over this film.The symbolisms are plenty and obvious, some even to the most common of eyes. The archetypes, the stereotypes, the needs and the musts of western life are sarcastically exposed to the viewer.Personally, I think this is an all-time classic, a film that still has a reason and something to say, so many years later. My only objection, and the reason for not rating it as a 10/10, is that some scenes could be a lot shorter, but then again this is a personal point of view, as a realize that many people want or need the dramatization that a long scene with skilled actors offers.