LA GRANDE BOUFFE (1973)

"...or not to be."

Four wealthy male friends gather together (with some prostitutes and a teacher) in a large house to eat themselves to death...and yep, it's about as gross as you just imagined.  Once LA GRANDE BOUFFE gets going, it's almost non-stop debauchery, farting, shitting, gorging, vomiting, whoring, burping, fucking and death.  It's great.

In the wrong hands, a story idea like this could turn out to be a disaster, but luckily for us, it was written and directed by Marco Ferreri and has four of the best actors of all time in the lead roles: Marcello Mastroianni, Michel Piccoli, Philippe Noiret and Ugo Tognazzi.  Andrea Ferreol is also very disturbing as the seemingly normal person, who get way too much pleasure out of actively cheering on these four men to commit a very slow and painful suicide.

According to the disc extras, LA GRANDE BOUFFE caused quite a stir at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival and I can see why; it's a pretty messed up movie (especially back then), but as a commentary on consumerism, I think the film does a excellent job and I would absolutely love to see a modern day remake that is a 1,000 times more grotesque.

Double-feature with Pasolini's SALO, OR THE 120 DAYS OF SODOM for a truly fun evening.

[As a complete side note (that has nothing to do with the review): I'm curious as to what the legal ramifications would be for the character of Andrea after the film was over and the police became involved?  I have no idea if assisted suicide was legal in France in 1973, but even if so, you could argue that what she did went well beyond "assisting".]

NSFW images

Look at the use of mirrors in this shot.

DIVORCE ITALIAN STYLE (1961)

[Update 01/03/2022: Need to add some more to the end of this review. Just don't have the time to fix it right meow.]

Impoverished Italian aristocrat Marcello Mastroianni lives an idle life with his extended family in a rundown mansion. He passes his days working on crossword puzzles, sipping coffee and most importantly: trying to avoid his overbearing, annoying wife. She has more facial hair than Magnum P.I. and pesters him 25 hours a day by talking nonstop and wanting to cuddle. His life is Hell, but then things take a turn for the better when his attractive, 16-year-old cousin moves in. They make goo-goo eyes at each other and when they finally get a chance to speak and let their love for each other known, he makes it his #1 goal in life to get rid of his wife and marry his cousin!

Problem is divorce is illegal, so he has to figure out another way. He's got it! There's a law that if you find your wife in the arms of another man you can kill her in the heat of passion and only serve 3 years in prison...but how's he ever going to find somebody desperate and believable enough to want to seduce his wife?!