good back-story, and good acting

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Four affluent middle-aged men (Marcello Mastroianni, Michel Piccoli, Philippe Noiret & Ugo Tognazzi) close themselves off in a château for a weekend of stuffing themselves with gourmet food. They are joined by three prostitutes and a school teacher. It gradually becomes clear that this is a suicide pact ... the four intend to eat themselves to death. I love this film. It's somewhere between Bunuel and "Salo" ... or a version of "Salo" that is not hijacked as an indictment of fascism and is perhaps closer to De Sade. What starts as a fairly sensual enjoyment of food and sex gradually transforms into a grim and tawdry march to death. The film doesn't blink, but it also isn't really condemning men for their bloody minded self-hating lust for pleasure. It's both satire and celebration in an odd way.

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.

"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.

Just a fact that you can see four of all best actors in unusual ugliness in the same movie,magnifies the interest to the picture.Never before Marcello Mastroianni acted so different role like here. Another fact -that all of the four personages are named the same as the actors,leads to the thought,that the actors and the director Marco Ferreri divided the same fillings on a subject of modern hight society,its eternal chasing after satisfactory which does not have limits include moral,and inability to get away of it. Like in another Ferreri movies,here there is no need to think,just to follow,and understanding will come. The picture is very good example for "different" cinema,although the one plus four biggest stars of the Europe and for my opinion of the world.