Buffet Froid

Starring:GÃ©rard Depardieu, Bernard Blier, Jean Carmet, Denise Gence, Marco Perrin, Jean Benguigui, Carole Bouquet, Jean Rougerie, Liliane RovÃ¨re, Bernard Crombey, Michel Fortin, Roger Riffard, Maurice Travail, Nicole Desailly, Pierre Frag, Eric Wasberg, GeneviÃ¨ve Page, Michel Serrault
Director: Bertrand Blier
Studio: Fox Lorber
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

Playing murder as farce is nothing new for French filmmakers, but Bertrand Blier brings the concept to a new level in Buffet Froid, a bleak, ironic black comedy. An unemployed man is enmeshed in a nightmarish situation that plays itself out with unapologetic illogic: he falls in with shady characters like his wife's killer, a corrupt police chief, and a young beauty who is definitely not what she seems. Like all Blier romps (most notably the scatological Going Places and Ménage), Buffet Froid is definitely not for everyone, and Gérard Depardieu fans might feel especially cheated by his passive performance. But if your own taste runs to the surrealistic dreamscapes of Luis Buñuel's final films, then Blier's cheerfully amoral tale is worth seeing. --Kevin Filipski

Customer Reviews:

Buffet Froid.......2007-07-03

Blier's death-obsessed, surrealist black comedy features the ever-prolific Depardieu as blasé drifter Alphonse, who--desensitized to violence--wanders a nightmarish urban landscape with his two unlikely allies, a cop (played by the director's father) and a serial killer. Blier, who won an Oscar for his "Get Out Your Handkerchiefs," invokes every noir cliché in the book, only to subvert them all in arch Bunuelian fashion. Bleak, morbid, and bizarre, this is a murder mystery with no tidy solutions or evident logic. But if you're in a Kafkaesque sort of mood, feast on Buffet Froid.

"You look as if you had funny ideas.".......2006-04-11

"Buffet Froid" is a macabre black comedy that revolves around the nightmarish adventures of Alphonse Tram (Gerard Depardieu). The film begins with Alphonse wandering into a brightly lit but deserted subway station. When he stumbles on a late night traveler, Alphonse begins to pester him, obviously making a complete nuisance of himself. The stranger tries to move away, but Alphonse follows. And then the two men discuss murder ....

Alphonse forms a strange alliance with the pessimistic Inspecteur Morvandieu (director Bernard Blier) who is the only other resident in his otherwise deserted high-rise. But then a nervous serial killer (Jean Carmet) turns up, and the corpses and the murders begin to mount. The three men--Alphonse, Inspecteur Morvandieu, and the serial killer form an uneasy alliance. It would be stretching the situation to say they're friends. It's more accurate to say that they hang out together, drink with one another, feed off of each other's suspicions and paranoia, and betray each other every chance they get.

The structure of "Buffet Froid" is a facsimile of a nightmare--in this case Alphonse's nightmare, and he lives in a murder-obsessed world. Just as in a nightmare, the film contains instances of bizarre non-logic, moments of inability to take action, the sensation of entering a room full of people who turn to stare, and an emphasis on small details--such as patterns on the floor and wallpaper. The characters in the film accept each bizarre situation as perfectly normal--it's merely the next stage of the surreal existence they dwell in. It's impossible to predict exactly who will like this absurdist film--but if you liked "Neighbors" or "Menage", for example, there's a good chance you'll enjoy "Buffet Froid." DVD extras include filmography, film trivia, and production notes. In French with English subtitles--displacedhuman

A buñuelian film noir.......2004-05-13

In the best tradition of the sarcasticc, ironic and devasting spirit of Luis Buñuel's filmography (and obviously a Billy Wilder's touch), the film runs by its own with a masterful plot brilliant travels and remarkable performances.
Blier made a film absolutely free of any kind of convencionalism, intelligent humor, clever sense of absurd and mesmerizing laberyntic journey into the underworld, the acid view about a policeman who decides breaking the rules together with two men who are under a high stress anguish by different reasons . Suddenly all the sense of reality suffers a blackout and you become part of it.
Watch this film. And convince by yourself this is a fascinating tale, a brilliant work, and an unforgettable movie in any age.
You'll be widely rewarded. And please, forget the logical and drown in this surrealistic story.
Eternally enjoyable.
Depardieu as always at his top.

Death Warmed Up.......2004-04-10

"Buffet Froid" is a thriller without thrills, a murder mystery with no solution, and a comedy that's only funny to a certain type of person. When you add all these ingredients up, you get one heck of a surrealist piece. It is a movie many people will hate after just one viewing. It is bleak, morbid, ruthless, and bizarre in its apparent lack of concern for plot or realism. When I watched in my high-school French class, there wasn't much laughter, though there was a lot of "What??" and "Oh, my God..." I didn't hate it, though. I was quite intrigued.

The film opens in a metro station, where a young man named Alphonse (Gerard Depardieu) attempts to engage an unfriendly older man in conversation. Oddly, the man warms up when the topic of duscussion switches to death and murder. Alphonse produces a switchblade knife, and it's hard to tell if he's threatening or just emphasizing his words. The knife vanishes; the older man grows frightened and flees on a train; and very shortly afterward, Alphonse finds him lying in a passageway with the knife buried in his stomach. Is Alphonse the murderer? Not even he knows.

Alphonse goes home, where his wife doesn't react at all upon learning of the murder. They live in a cheerless apartment halfway up a large tenement complex that is completely uninhabited except for them and their new upstairs neighbor, a police chief. Alphonse's wife goes missing and turns up murdered in a vacant lot, and before we know it, a short, nervous man is knocking on Alphonse's door and introducing himself as the murderer. Alphonse invites him in for a drink, and they are soon joined by the police chief ("I'd like you to meet my wife's murderer." "Pleasure."). Then another man shows up who wants Alphonse to assassinate someone for him, but the victim turns out to be...and so on.

"Buffet Froid" may not look like a surrealist piece, but it definitely is. All throughout the movie, there's a sense of wrongness and unreality. Alphonse, the chief, and the murderer form a kind of alliance and have an odd series of adventures that all result in someone's death. Over the course of the film, no less than fifteen people are shot, stabbed, strangled, drowned, or suffocated, and yet the characters never react to the deaths with anything other than vague interest or mild annoyance. Everyone in the movie is either a murderer or has the potential to be one. No one behaves like a normal human being would in the circumstances, and this makes the film much more unpredictable and unsettling.

It's not just the acting, either. The cinematography is all browns, grays, and earthy colors, with an occaisonal startling splash of bright red (not blood; there is no blood anywhere in the film, despite all the death). There is virtually no music, except in a bizarre scene where Alphonse and the police chief visit a wealthy home and the chief is literally tortured by a string quintet. The scenes have little connection, and the motives of the characters are completely random, except for one person who I won't reveal. The closing scenes involve a bridge, a rowboat, and an ironic final twist that brings the plot in a macabre full circle. As the end credits roll, you feel unsatisfied because you're used to a conclusion that makes sense and wraps everything up. Oh, "Buffet Froid" wraps everything up, but definitely not in a happily-ever-after kind of way.

So, these are my thoughts on this peculiar little film. I recommend it to fans of surrealism and/or morbid humor. I can't say how much I "liked" it, but I admired its style and unapologetic ghoulishness. As long as France keeps making weird movies, I suppose I'll keep watching them. That is all.

comedy's hard to do...black comedy even tougher.......2003-05-31

I'm a fan of "Get Out Your Hankerchiefs" so assumed this offering from the same director would at least be enjoyable. I kept waiting for something funny to be done or said. I waited and waited. "The Trouble With Harry" or "Dr.Strangelove" are both great black comedies. This strives to be in their league but falls way short of the mark. It's possible that something's lost in the translation because to give the subtitles a dry read is to only further understand why French people revere Jerry Lewis-silliness in a somewhat surreal setting (wow, listen to that alliteration) does not necessarily make for a good comedy. Also the lack of subtlety (in every way with every character)makes this particularly off-putting. I'm at a loss as to how anyone could consider this even mediocre, much less brilliant.

Average customer rating:

Buffet froid [Region 2]
Starring: Gérard Depardieu , Bernard Blier , Jean Carmet , Denise Gence , and Marco Perrin
Director: Bertrand Blier
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

( B ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
ASIN: B0001FYPZK

Average customer rating:

Buffet froid [Region 2]
Starring: Gérard Depardieu , Bernard Blier , Jean Carmet , Denise Gence , and Marco Perrin
Director: Bertrand Blier
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

( B ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
ASIN: B00004VY6L

Average customer rating:

Buffet Froid
"You look as if you had funny ideas."
A buñuelian film noir
Death Warmed Up
comedy's hard to do...black comedy even tougher

Buffet Froid/Return of Martin
Starring: Gérard Depardieu , Nathalie Baye , Maurice Barrier , Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu , and Isabelle Sadoyan
Director: Daniel Vigne , and Bertrand Blier
Manufacturer: Fox Lorber
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Art House & International | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Foreign & International | Stores | DVD | Video

( B ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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