La Grande Bouffe VHS

Notorious cult classic is an audaciously vulgar parable of extraordinary excess and hedonism. Four petit-bourgeois middle-aged friends (the quartet of A-list stars: Mastroianni, Piccoli, Tognazzi, and Noiret) for vague reasons decide to end it all by going out in style. They retreat to a Parisian mansion and plan to eat themselves to death- which proves to be far less fun than they expected. A doomed, but jovial party atmosphere complete with plate after plate of gorgeous retro European gourmet food and a few call girls slowly descends into a gross, and even disgusting, gastronomical nightmare. All pleasure is no pleasure. From the dance with a calf's head ("that's good meat!"), to Ugo's spot-on Don Corleone impression, Marcello playing pirate while wearing women's underpants as an eye patch, the pate' sculpture, and of course the absolutely impossible to forget performance by Michel Piccoli, this is a slow burning but wild experience. A fantastic dark comedy, provocative, morbid, absurd, outrageous and funny. The photography, setting, and the chemistry of the cast add to the film's memorable nature. Perhaps best appreciated by fans of the films of Luis Bunuel, Peter Greenaway, or Bernardo Bertolucci. This film is often compared to Bunuel's, but this one decidedly lacks intellectual depth or overt surrealism. Compare with the sensuous, but memento mori laden Last Tango In Paris and The Cook The Thief His Wife And Her Lover. A unique blend of Babette's Feast with the Marquis de Sade or Dante's Inferno. This Arrow Blu Ray restoration looks superb, has plenty of interviews and extras about the films release, including a booklet with a collection of reviews from 1973, an essay, a list of all the dishes eaten in the film, and a reversible cover. Certainly not for all tastes, but a guilty pleasure that seems to get better with age.

good film delivered promptly.

A must see for anyone with a taste for the bizarre, but not for anyone who cannot sit through people eating like total pigs. Contrary to some reviews, the Prime version does have subtitles. One also has to tolerate French humor. They seem to think that men acting like total, clueless idiots and shamefully mugging is funny. Why else would they idolize Jerry Lewis?

Some movies sear an image into your brain for ever. Like the end of "The Wild Bunch" or the beginning of Leone's "Once Upon A Time In The West" - "Looks like we're shy one horse". "No, you brought two too many".I saw "La Grand Bouffe" over 20 years ago. I still have the image in my mind of the guy eating the two blancmanges at the end of the picture before he dies.This movie is surreal, bizarre and wonderful. If we go to movies to see images and things we have never seen before, then this movie is spectacularly successful.There is no greater movie about food and death.

One of the weirdest movies I've seen in a long time. Only the prostitutes are smart enough to get the hell out of there. The cooking scenes are great, but I couldn't help thinking about how much food they must have wasted during the filming. Longer than it needed to be but the weirdness kept my attention.

What starts as an all male retreat to eat is transformed with the arrival of prostitutes. When a teacher shows up to join the party, one man warns her about the loose morals of the women. Of course, they have nothing on her, except the good sense to leave. The men share a sickening amount of food and all the women. A parable of the desire and the self-destructiveness of consumer capitalism. It's funny at times, but always gross. It's too long.

A farce to end all farces! This story is about a group of highly accomplished bachelors that are bored with life and decide that the ultimate thrill would be to eat the most delicious foods until they die. But not to die alone because they bring prostitutes and a school teacher to help the debauchery. The cast is headed by Marcello Mastroanni, Phille Noiret, Michel Piccoli and Ugo Tognazi.The original version is in French but the US version has subtitles…so, read fast, really fast, especially when Mastroianni meets the“ ladies of pleasure!”Enjoy and saludos, Rolando

One of the best films I've ever seen. Clearly shows how bad society is and how far we've now gone in the wrong direction to not be able to make films like this. Absolutely hysterical and a total statement about selfishness, debauchery and high society in general. Stay with this one. It's outrageous fun. Some of the best comedy coming out of being horrible. The actors slowly work themselves into a frenzy. Loved it!

After reading many reviews on Amazon and elsewhere I was prepared for a really revolting experience. It turned out that the hype is far greater than the reality, although four men attempting to eat themselves to death is never going to be a pretty sight. The sex scenes were probably shocking when the film was first released in the 1970s but today they’re very mild.I found the film sometimes funny, sometimes sad, and interesting enough to stand back and think about what the director is saying. He claims, during an interview that forms one of the useful extras on the disc, that he intends no symbolism, he’s just telling a story. Well, you can believe that if you like. I think he’s having a good swipe at the French obsession with food, particularly the pretentious snobbery of haute cuisine.He also highlights the male view of women as existing mainly to serve the guys’ sexual requirements and, in passing, the typical masculine attraction to machinery (an old Bugatti). There’s even a little poke at religion, towards the end of the film. It’s all quite hard-hitting in a relaxed kind of way.The acting and direction are excellent and this restored version of the film is wonderful, like watching a brand new release. They even took the trouble to retain the slight graininess of the original celluloid film stock, which adds to the period atmosphere without getting in the way.The director is Italian and so are some of the actors but the dialogue is French, so for me the English subtitles are essential and they’ve made a good job of those too. All in all, well recommended.

I guess this is not a film for everyone, but if you enjoy to watch great actors do something totally different, it`s a gem. It`s fun and sad at the same time. The blu ray transfer looks pretty good to my knowledge, and there are som nice extras.

Arty? Perhaps. Farty? Definitely. Quite liberally.

This film was mentioned in the BBC Good Food magazine so I bought it for my mum for Xmas. However , I later found it to be offensive and distasteful. There should be a warning on it. Pure filth- straight in the bin!!

Probably one of the best World films ever made. Funny and gross. Best viewed after a 'blowout' takeaway!