Word: marcello
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...shrill voice. Ugo Tognazzi makes a loud farting noise, tongue between his lips, and the feast begins. Kidneys bourguinon. Kidneys bordelaise. Crayfish a la Mozart. Each dish has an identity of its own, but the diners ignore all subtlety in order to concentrate more conscientiously on their suicidal quest. Marcello Mastroianni stuffs down six clams in one bite. Grubby fingers and grubby mouths attack roasted legs of fowl so greedily they would make Henry VIII blush...
Like "Last Tango," "The Grande Bouffe" derives added shock value from the presence of stars: it's not Linda Lovelace, but respectable people like Marcello Mastroianni and Ugo Tognazzi taking the chance of their careers, letting loose, talking dirty, abandoning themselves to the urges of the unleashed libido...
...Dolce Vita," say, or "L'Avventura," decadence and dissipation are chic, inviting; the houseparty in "The Grande Bouffe" is entirely without glamour. You'll remember in "La Dolce Vita" the character of Paola the Innocent who represents the possibility of a higher and finer life than the one Marcello slips into. Here, Marcello has no options--he's sunk, irretrievably, in a swamp of self-indulgence...
...most tantalizing dissonances is the work of the superb actors, who keep insinuating real pathos and depth beneath the gaudy surfaces of their dirty-cartoon-strip characters: one lost, soulful look from Marcello, one hurt glance from Andrea Ferreol (the actress who plays, unforgettably, the concupiscent schoolteacher who outlasts them all), and the eaters who are bent on turning themselves into trash become momentarily sympathetic--real people that we feel can still be "saved." Convulsed by laughter that chokes, we're depleted by movie's end, having been through a cathartic, unlovely experience: the orgy as death...
...other purpose except would-be shock. He does not deal in satire that could threaten or amuse, that could give the sequences substance and, therefore, true impact. His careful chronicle of the dietary excesses of four men is like a prank-a loud, bad practical joke. The men-Marcello Mastroianni, Ugo Tognazzi, Michel Piccoli and Philippe Noiret-hole up in an old house to eat themselves to death, to kill themselves with the very staff of life. Along the way, they also enjoy the company of some whores and a pudgy schoolteacher (Andrea Ferreol), who dispenses her fatty favors equitably...