Four legendary movie stars attempt to eat themselves to death in LA GRANDE BOUFFE
CINÉMATUESDAYS: LA GRANDE BOUFFE (THE BIG FEAST) (BLOW-OUT) (Marco Ferreri, 1973)
French Institute Alliance Française, Florence Gould Hall
55 East 59th St. between Madison & Park Aves.
Tuesday, October 9, $10, 7:00
Series continues through October 30
212-355-6160
www.fiaf.org
Fed up with their lives, four old friends decide to literally eat themselves to death in one last grand blow-out. Cowritten and directed by Marco Ferreri (Chiedo asilo, La casa del sorriso), La Grande Bouffe features a cast that is an assured recipe for success, bringing together a quartet of legendary actors, all playing characters with their real first names: Marcello Mastroianni as sex-crazed airplane pilot Marcello, Philippe Noiret as mama’s boy and judge Philippe, Michel Piccoli as effete television host Michel, and Ugo Tognazzi as master gourmet chef Ugo. They move into Philippe’s hidden-away family villa, where they plan to eat and screw themselves to death, with the help of a group of prostitutes led by Andréa (Andréa Ferréol). Gluttons for punishment, the four men start out having a gas, but as the feeding frenzy continues, so does the flatulence level, and the men start dropping one by one. While the film might not be quite the grand feast it sets out to be, it still is one very tasty meal. Just be thankful that it’s not shown in Odoroma. Winner of the FIPRESCI Prize at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival, La Grande Bouffe is screening October 9 at 12:30, 4:00, and 7:00 as part of the FIAF CinémaTuesdays series “Films for Foodies!” The 7:00 showing will be introduced by pâtissier François Payard and series curator John Mariani and followed by a Q&A. The series continues October 16 with Roland Joffe’s Vatel (presented by Mariani and chef André Soltner), October 23 with Jean-Pierre Améris’s Romantics Anonymous (including a chocolate tasting with Mariani and chocolatier Laurent Gerbaud), and October 30 with Paul Lacoste’s Step Up to the Plate (presented by Mariani, chef Jean-Louis Gerin, and film producer Jaime Mateus-Tique). Bon appetit!