Marco Ferreri’s masterpiece, La Grande Bouffe, is about 4 friends who spend a weekend in a villa, resolving to literally eat themselves to death. Released in 1973, its stuffed with loads of dark humour, food, shit, farts and sex. Its a feast for the eyes as scene after scene plays out like great renaissance paintings. Yet its also scene after scene growing in revulsion. I feel like I got sucker punched in the abdomen after having dinner as I watched. A regretful decision for sure. Try to catch this one on an empty but strong stomach.

I’m not entirely certain but I think Peter Paul Rubens was the principal cinematographer.

A judge, a pilot, a chef and a producer say their goodbyes to those they cherish the most as the film begins. I’m not entirely sure what is happening, only that they meet up and drive to a villa owned by the judge to enjoy a feast of sorts. Even on the way there, they’ve already started eating in the car. When they do arrive, they’re greeted by a delivery of some of the finest meats. The best beef, venison, Bresse chickens, Ardenne roosters… It seems a lot more than too much for just 4 people.

The order and decorum on the surface slowly gives way to the orgy bubbling beneath. Ferreri begins to reveal more as we go along. An oyster eating contest set to a slideshow of some turn of the century pornography in the evening is followed by Kidneys Bourgignon for breakfast. But soon, they tire of just food. Enter 3 prostitutes and a seemingly innocent, plump schoolteacher so they can fuck and eat at the same time. After all, there’s so much food anyway, might as well share it around whilst having a roll in the hay.

Thereafter, its a descent into absolute depravity, excess and immorality as they eat, fuck, fart, eat, fuck and eat some more. These guys, for whatever reason, are seriously eating themselves into oblivion. The prostitutes can’t seem to take it and leave. The rest continue and eventually, one by one, they die in the most depressing of downward spirals.

Some scenes just cry out in agony and comedy all at once, like when the schoolteacher starts to fuck the producer who is suffering from indigestion and she moans whilst he farts in tandem. It all just kept making me wonder why. Why did 4 perfectly healthy, seemingly normal, wealthy upper middle class gentlemen want to end their lives? Why did they choose a method that is so ironic in its approach? After all, food is sustenance and sex is procreation, yet it was their chosen way to die, living to death.

The film is as surreal as it is insane. The premise is so absurd, so ludicrous. How is it even possible for one to eat until they died? If we could consume and enjoy anything and everything without remorse, without any consequence, would we really eat the entire earth and drink it dry? The characters in the film certainly seemed to adhere to this sentiment, obliterating themselves in their relentless feast toward death. Perhaps, it really is all about the decline of Western civilization as some have suggested.

Every character arrives at a turning point and possibly had some kind of a chance to redeem themselves. Yet they either chose not to or had no choice. Marcello, the sex depraved pilot, decided enough was enough and tried to escape the villa in his blue Bugatti but to no avail. He froze to death in the cold of the winter night, unable to control the machine that was his ticket to freedom. Even when he realised what he was doing was utterly insane, nature conspired to rebuke him. Similarly, the tv producer Michel, who had severe indigestion. Yet for whatever reason, decided to persevere, eventually dying in a final flatulent release and amidst his own faeces.

Also, were it not for the nurturing care of the schoolteacher, a couple of the characters would not have met with their deaths. The chef, who had his friend, the judge force feed him pates till his demise. Or the oedipal judge, fed a blancmange shaped like a pair of giant tits, much like the ones belonging to his nanny or the schoolteacher.

La Grande Bouffe is a powerful film. One that is revolting and provocative. It seems to satirize the rich West and its pillars of capitalism, like a death knell sounding for materialistic overconsumption and excess. Something which is probably hugely relevant at this point in time.

The one thing I couldn’t suffer was its use of food as a killer. Beautiful, delightful food. I feel like going on a diet right now.