La grande bouffe

[domino harvey]

Release Date: 17th August 2015
Format: Dual Format Blu-ray + DVD
Starring: Marcello Mastroianni, Michel Piccoli, Philippe Noiret
Directed by: Marco Ferreri

Synopsis: The most famous film by Italian provocateur Marco Ferreri (Dillinger is Dead), La Grande bouffe was reviled on release for its perversity, decadence and attack on the bourgeoisie yet won the prestigious FIPRESCI prize after its controversial screening at the Cannes Film Festival.

Four friends, played by international superstars Marcello Mastroianni (Fellini’s 8½), Michel Piccoli (Belle de jour), Ugo Tognazzi (Barbarella) and Philippe Noiret (Zazie dans le métro) retreat to a country mansion where they determine to eat themselves to death whilst engaging in group sex with prostitutes and a local school teacher (Andréa Ferréol, The Tin Drum), who seems to be up for anything…

At once jovial and sinister, the film’s jet-black humour has a further twist as the reputed actors (whose characters use their own names) buck their respectable trend for a descent into fart-filled chaos that delivers a feast for the eyes and mind.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:
Brand new 2K restoration of the original camera negative
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation
Original French audio (uncompressed PCM on the Blu-ray)
Newly translated English subtitles
The Farcical Movie – A French television profile of Marco Ferreri from 1975 in which the director discusses, among other things, the influence of Tex Avery, Luis Buñuel and Tod Browning’s Freaks
Behind-the-scenes footage of the making of La Grande bouffe, containing interviews with Ferrari and actors Marcello Mastroianni, Michel Piccoli, Ugo Tognazzi and Philippe Noiret
Extracts from the television series Couleurs autour d’un festival featuring interviews with the cast and crew recorded during the Cannes Film Festival
A visual essay on the film with by Italian film scholar Pasquale Iannone
Select scene audio commentary by Iannone
News report from the Cannes Film Festival where La Grande bouffe caused a controversial stir, including Ferreri at the press conference
Original Trailer
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Gilles Vranckx
Booklet featuring new writing on the film by Johnny Mains, illustrated with original archive stills and posters

[domino harvey]

And La Grande Bouffe is indeed a joint Academy (UK) and Video (US) release, although as with Dr Jekyll the discs and booklet will be identical.

[smokes]

This is beyond exciting. Really happy to see this getting a blu-ray release

[MichaelB]

I've just watched the French press conference footage, which is hilarious even without subtitles. The euphemistic version is that Marco Ferreri started a full and frank discussion over a difference of opinion.

Incidentally, the running time of the uncut original camera negative is 129 mins 48 secs, which is in line with NTSC DVD releases. Curiously, the Monthly Film Bulletin gives a running time of 133 mins and the IMDB lengthens it still further to 135 mins, but my theory is that the IMDB time is simply a case of someone misguidedly "compensating" for nonexistent PAL speedup - because a running time of nearly 130 minutes in PAL would indeed be 135 minutes theatrically. As for the MFB, I think it's a straightforward typo - because they give the footage length as 11,986 feet, but if you calculate the length at 11,686 feet you end up with 129 mins 50 secs. And on a calculator keypad it's easy enough to type a 9 instead of a 6.

[Forrest Taft]

I've been wanting to check out Marco Ferreri: The Director Who Came From the Future, the feature length doc on Ferreri from 2007, so I'm a bit disappointed it's not among the supplements. But this still looks like a superb package, so I'm looking forward to picking this up in August. Can't believe I still haven't seen La Grande Bouffe...

[MichaelB]

Enquiries were made, but the cost of the UK and US rights would have been too high even after scrapping all the other extras - which are much more on-topic in terms of addressing La Grande Bouffe itself.

[Forrest Taft]

Sounds like you made the right decision then (and I don't even know the doc is any good).

[MichaelB]

It's very good, but I think it would be better accompanying another Marco Ferreri film - because with most of his other titles there's far less film-specific archival material available than there is with La Grande Bouffe.

It's a bit like the Tonino Guerra doc on L'Assassino - that could legitimately have appeared on any number of Guerra-scripted films, but L'Assassino seemed like a good fit because there was very little archival material on L'Assassino itself.

[GaryC]

Incidentally, the running time of the uncut original camera negative is 129 mins 48 secs, which is in line with NTSC DVD releases. Curiously, the Monthly Film Bulletin gives a running time of 133 mins and the IMDB lengthens it still further to 135 mins, but my theory is that the IMDB time is simply a case of someone misguidedly "compensating" for nonexistent PAL speedup - because a running time of nearly 130 minutes in PAL would indeed be 135 minutes theatrically. As for the MFB, I think it's a straightforward typo - because they give the footage length as 11,986 feet, but if you calculate the length at 11,686 feet you end up with 129 mins 50 secs. And on a calculator keypad it's easy enough to type a 9 instead of a 6.

If that is a typo, and it sounds like it might be, it probably was made by the BBFC. In their listing for their rejection of the film in 1973, they give the submitted running time as 132:43. The BBFC entry also gives the year of the film as 1933!

[bugsy_pal]

I am over the moon about Arrow releasing this film. It has some of the funniest moments in all of cinema. I first saw this at the cinema when I was a teenager back in the late 70s, and it was unforgettable.

Well done Arrow, again.

[MichaelB]

Mondo Digital:

It's hard to believe a film with this level of an international reputation would have gone this long without a real special edition, but the Arrow release more than makes up for it with a heaping plateful of goodies.

[MichaelB]

Beaver.

[MichaelB]

Caps-a-holic.

[MichaelB]

Blu-ray.com gives perfect marks for picture and sound.

[CR2]

I'm just throwing this out there, on the topic of Ferreri, but if you guys (Or basically ANYONE) could give L'Ape Regina an English friendly release, I could die happy. One of my absolute favorite films that's in desperate need of new presentation.