Terrell-4 "A wild boar, ready for the most subtle marinades...two superb deers with soft eyes, flesh imbued with the perfumes of the Clouves forest...ten dozen semi-wild guinea fowls fed on grain and juniper...three dozen innocent Ardennes cockerels...one dozen chickens from and around Bresse...a hindquarter of beef from the rich pastures of Charolais...five dozen innocent salt-meadow lambs from Mont Saint-Michel..." Since this is a family site I won't describe the delights of the prostitutes they've also ordered. You'll see those soon enough. When these four sophisticated men, ennui leaking from their souls like the fluid draining from those two superb deers, speak of kissing the oyster, it's not the oysters they have in mind. In fact, what they seem to welcome is death by satiation. If food and sex are humankind's two glorious distractions from boredom, these four men discover a way to check out with a belch and a groan. It will be glorious, endless dinner at the unused Paris manse of one of them. The Whore Menu will be a masterpiece..."a sauté of fat and lean given by four gourmet epicureans for three young ladies in twelve courses. Crayfish a la Mozart on a bed of rice with sublime Aurore Sauce...soft-shell lobster served as a first course..." The dinner will be memorable...four jaded men, three whores and Andrea (Andrea Ferreol), a schoolteacher. And we're only 44 minutes into this more than two-hour movie. One thing for sure, There'll have to be breakfast What on earth are we to make of the tired lives, mounds of kidneys bordelaise and pointless exits of Marcello the pilot (Marcello Mastroianni), Michel the television big shot (Michel Piccoli), Philippe the judge (Philippe Noiret) and Ugo the chef (Ugo Tognazzi)? Much can be read into this movie, and much has. I suspect that the more some people natter on about its meaning, the less meaning it has. What it does have, however one-note the movie becomes, is the intense flavor of La Grande Black Comedy. The four men become clueless comedians in their own overly nuanced sophisticated pleasures and jaded feelings. If we didn't quickly realize that Marcello, Michel, Philippe and Ugo weren't just grownup, spoiled children, stunted in their approach to women as well as food (and acted by four superb artists), La Grande Bouffe might deflate under its own weight. Even as the whores depart, we still have the schoolteacher, a woman of unexpected delights and comforts. She brings a certain wholesomeness to sex on a kitchen table. Like an encouraging pairing of wine and cheese, she makes sex and food a pleasure...and she pairs well with Philippe for a while. Some fine black comedies may end sadly; they don't all need to end with irony. I'll admit that the last line in the movie, "Is it all right like that, Ma'am? Meat in the garden?" comes close.

lastliberal There is no question that many of us are slowly committing suicide by overeating, but the idea of eating until you die is probably a very unpleasant way to go.Yet, four men, three-time Oscar nominee Marcello Mastroianni, four time César nominee Michel Piccoli, two time César winner, and three more nomination, and a BAFTA winner Philippe Noiret, and Golden Globe nominee Ugo Tognazzi, join together to eat themselves to death.They are eventually joined by two time César nominee Andréa Ferréol and three whores because Marcello, the airline pilot, cannot manage without them.Needless to say, they eat and eat, engage in eating contests, and make expected noises when their bellies are full. They are constantly cooking and eating, when they are not doing things like using a manifold as a dildo.Michel gets constipated and what do they do? They manipulate him until he is relieved and then feed him more. The three whores finally get disgusted with the constant eating and leave. Just the four men and the teacher (Ferréol) remain.It gets a little creepy after two die and the rest go with them sitting there watching. But they do not last long, as they eat themselves to death.The film is quite funny at times, grotesque at times, and sad that excess is celebrated.The first-rate cast all gave excellent performances.

tedg 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.

other_reality 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.