Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro, the duet which brought to us unforgettable films such as the City of the children lost in 1995 and the Fabulous destiny of Amélie Poulain in 2003, turned their first attempt, Delicatessen, in 1991. On the comments of the DVD, Jeunet notes that it modelled the scenario of film according to a funny remark of his former girl friend who, after having heard the cry violent of one of her neighbors of apartment, said: "the owner kills his lessors to eat them; well, we will be its next victims! "1 The film forms part of the movement "Cinema of the look", with its funny style, pub, and cartoon. The colour application in false sepia gives a nostalgic quality that nobody except Jeunet and Caro can complete. It is very rare that the scenario writers can make a project which covers a so heavy subject, but which is nevertheless (for the majority) charming and amusing! The first sequence of film introduces us with a covered timeless hell of yellowish fog, an environment created by the director of the photography, Darius Khondji, which has an immense talent. This lugubrious atmosphere seems me to be completely drawn from a film of horror or suspense, very similar with the work of Hitchcock. Undoubtedly, the plans of the diffusion of the sound through pipes of the building point out well the plan of the drain of shower in Psycho. I believe that this "descent" is used to announce an entry in paranoia, and thus one starts to see why Kyri Watson Claflin speaks about Delicatessen as a filmic demonstration of what the historian Henry Rousso calls "the syndrome of Vichy", a psychological effect which was born from the memories and the feelings towards France occupied during the Second Mondiale.2 War Among the funny community which lives above the pork-butchery of Mr Boucher Valve, one sees many parallels to the life in occupied France. The most known newspaper is called difficult Times. The meat is so rare to find that its customers are miserly until the flight and the fraud. The money disappeared; there are only corn and lenses to trade. Everyone ennerve, and clandestinity reigns. The odd Mr Tapioca catches many frogs and snails in his quasi-marshy room to have a surplus of food. The husband of a famished couple decides to offer his old mother-in-law to the butcher in order to avoid bursting. One manufacturing of toys loses a leg in a comic accident. Even our hero, Louison the clown, must sell his shoes to pay the tariff of the taxi. Similar sacrifices were made by good people in occupied France who did anything to survive... those which lasted by means of the débrouillardise.3 Other side, there are certain people who capitulate with the madness. The fragile one and suicidal Mrs Aurore believes to hear the voice of the evil in its head. The factor splits finally its obsessive infatuation towards Julie. This feeling of madness is naturally at the time of the Second World War. Whereas some succumbed to it, others could surmount it. Let us take the example of the Butcher Valve itself and its love, Mrs Plusse. They "are survived"; always stressed through their guilt feeling in their roles of carnivores, accessory to the cannibals. But, at the end of film, both are more or less cleared near God (it because of its alliance in Trogolos, and him because of its death). The ideological division which is seen in the community of film points out that real: "survived" the accomplices of the Nazis represent, the guilty monsters which saw the passage of their lawsuits at the beginning of the Nineties, at the same time as Delicatessen left. Then there are the "undergrounds", the Resistance, which is seen like Trogolos; they constitute a clandestine team which fights for the return of justice and the order in the life! Naomi Greene, in its book Landscapes of Loss, believes that Delicatessen speaks about a certain strong desire towards the renewal of the happiness of the past, which existed in peaceful France before the guerre.4 It is a desire which is present in the spirits of all those which suffer from the "syndrome of Vichy", at which Jeunet and Caro belong. The scene of the nightmare of Julie represents an unconscious fight against the loss of joy of last (which is shown here in the form of images of the clown and his accomplice, the singe5 Livingstone) and also the comprehension of the terror which triumphs over this joy: Cannibalism. Besides that, one can see in film of many scenes which pay homage to the famous?uvres of the large French scenario writers of the Thirties and Forties. The scene of arrived of Louison is turned in the style of Marcel Carné and its films the Quay of the fogs and the Day rise. Undoubtedly, Domenica Pinon resembles to the silent Jean Gabin much, and "carnéesque" environment is well reinforced by sound effects "industrial". Later in film, the rescue of the long-line bra of Mrs Plusse by the clown and its "Australian" seems to be a gesture completely drawn from the page of Jean, the légionary of the Quay of the fogs. The sentence of Louison, "the Australian one is nothing without its Master" is really "gabinesque" 6 The scene of the head office of Louison and Julie in their room points out the François defendant of the Day rises. But there is also a little bit of the savour of Jean Renoir here: When the couple filled the water jacket in order to escape from it, one remembers saved Boudu of water, in which water is employed like "donor of life", "stamps protective" very similar with the role of the sea in Atalante of Jean Vigo7. Jeunet and Caro do not forget traditional film the Million, because several aspects of Delicatessen also have a "clairesque" savour! The dormitory with narrow of the butcher causes the memories of the comic to and from of the poor Rene Lefèvre and his neighbors. It is particularly in the scene which treats the parcel of Julie that one can see the resemblance with the?uvre of Rene Clair: Everyone street with the quarry! As French scenario writers of the Thirties and Forties, Jeunet and Caro honour also two kings with the New Wave: François Truffaut and Jean Luc Godard. There is the same intimism, same tenderness in Delicatessen as in the Four hundred blows and In Bout of breath. When Louison amuses the kids with his pretty trick of bubble, this innocence, this childish wonder that Truffaut endorses of any sound c?ur, is still here. In the funny and charming moments which occur between the clown and his adored Julie, one can see a so small "godardesque" colour; this charm is the result of the requirement of Jeunet towards the improvisation of some scènes8; it be-with-statement that, during the tower of the scene, the actors made the gestures which missed with the exercise so collecting truths reactions of the surprise on the faces of credulous of the unit. For example, the snap which is taken by Julie at the end of her quarrel with his/her father is not at all false! And the nervousness of the actress Marie-Laure Dougnac during the appointment with tea was caused by the appearance of a bunch of flowers held by Domenica Pinon! To continue to speak about the parallels with the New Wave, and also to establish a bond between that and "the syndrome of Vichy", I notice the scenes of conversation: one of Louison with Julie, and the other of the butcher with Plusse. The intimism and the tenderness which are at Godard and Truffaut proportion with the n?ud syndrome to create an attractive treatment about the nature of the human evil and how to support the culpability which is sometimes the consequence of our acts. Note the statement of Louison and Clapet: "Nobody is entirely bad... it is the circumstance" 9 Then there is the nail of film with the storm. Jeunet and Caro gave an easy way here: Right before the stop of the emissions of television because of lighting, one sees the same image of dressed up Louison which appeared in the nightmare of Julie. That announces a return to Hitchcock, and thus the film returns to the starting point. In conclusion, that it is enough for us to say that Delicatessen is a formidable test towards the mixture of the savour of the "cinema of the look" of the Eighties ten (of which Jeunet and Caro are Masters) and a certain effort with know-and to look after to them symptoms of the "syndrome of Vichy" which threatened more and more of generations of French since the release in 1945.

You don't write none too good.

"worst essay ever"
[Edited 5/5/07 16:49pm]

Well, I was happy that I managed to understand pretty much everything (except for a few words, like "clou" and "surnagés" for example)

You see parallels with Hitchcock for example which I'm sure are legitimate, but are you sure they're intentional? Especially the whole thing about starting and ending with a Hitchcock reference, do you really think they planned it that way on purpose? You don't specifically say so, but it seems implied.

surnagés - It means "surface-floaters" or "surfacers," i.e., in contrast to the "souterrains," who live underground.

clou - This term was suggested to me by a French-speaking friend...literally, it means 'nail' or 'stud' but here it means the 'climax' of the film.

The title of the paper begins, "The Unconscious Echoes of Vichy," so that is me saying that the allusions to other films are, for the most part, not intentional.

Thanks for the input...glad you like it!

I suppose I could post mine.

http://docs.google.com/Do...4r_7c2qpbj

It's about nuclear energy. I have to talk about it for 20 mins on Monday for my A2 Oral.

I suppose I could post mine.

http://docs.google.com/Do...4r_7c2qpbj

A2 Oral.

Spookymuffin said:

Pas mal mon petit enculé adoré

I'm really impressed about your french even if there is little few mistakes. But the meaning is really good.