And you thought the French didn't do dark comedy...
Buffet Froid. An UFO (unidentified filmic object) of a movie, directed by an UFO (unidentified filming object) of a man.
Bertrand Blier. it's fair to say that he has spent his career courting controversy, challenging, and more often than not, downright insulting French society. But we always forgive our geniuses, and Bertrand Blier's cinematic output is nothing short of genius, at times even flirting with perfection. It was incredibly tough to pick one movie to introduce Bertrand Blier. "Les Valseuses", "Too beautiful for you", "Grosse fatigue" or "Beau-pere" were all very good contenders, and I'm not saying I might not post about them on a later date. I chose Buffet Froid simply because I had the DVD handy.
How do I even start describing Buffet Froid? As most of Bertrand Blier's movies, it is based on a story as threadbare as possible. An empty residential apartment block, three main characters, a slow descent in the absurd, the paranoia and the murdering madness, there is simply no movie long connecting story thread, it just goes wherever it needs to go, wherever the characters want to go. And yet it makes complete sense. In no particular order, within the movie you will have 9 murders, a widow raping doctor, a (pretend) heart attack at a Brahms concert in a bourgeois house, a blatant abuse of police force, a not so relaxing forest getaway, a double crossed, train loving hired goon, a rowboat assisted killing, a cold avenging daughter and a nightmare laden nymphomaniac. Amongst many other things. And yes, it is a comedy, albeit a very dark one.
It is, of course, not a laugh out loud comedy. This is a constant drive towards insanity, but more importantly, this is a constant drive to absurdity. None of the characters in the movie react to the events as you would expect. In fact, their reactions being so diagonal to the situations is the main source of the buffoonery, the absurdity which makes this movie a comedy, and not a thriller or an horror movie. It is pretty close to the "Grand Guignol" French tradition. It lulls the viewer in a strange, alternative, absurd reality, where we question the right and wrong, as we want to cheer the characters despite their ever increasing lawlessness and amorality.
Are they even characters? The three main protagonists are played by a triumvirate of French legends. Gerard Depardieu (a self confessed useless police fearing unemployed) is the most known outside of France, Bernard Blier (a classical music allergic police inspector, and yes, he is the director's dad) and Jean Carmet (a deceitful, conniving and ultimately cowardly women murderer). Bertrand Blier, the director, leaves a lot of leeway to the actors. As in most of his movies, it's difficult to tell if they are playing a character, or just being themselves thrown in an absurd situation (he will eventually push this idea to its logical conclusion in "Grosse Fatigue" and "Actors" where the actors play themselves while not being themselves. It makes sense, I promise!) He blurs the line between acting and reacting. The result is an absolute tour de force in acting, not only from the three main actors, but from everybody involved. The opening scene, featuring Depardieu and another French acting legend, Michel Serrault, sets the stage with its near perfect acting, dead pan humour and overall absurdity. One of the best, most memorable opening scenes in French cinema.
The characters impersonate the superficiality of modern city living, fast becoming what appears to be friends, while at the same time having no qualms leaving one of them behind, attempt to murder each other, or even falsely pointing one of them to a contract killer. Despite that unusual relationship, the bond they form is of the "us vs them" variety, a Sartrian "Hell, it's the others" view of the world, where everybody else is a suspect, and a threat. I could write for pages about the critic of high rise living, about the release date, 1979, being at the door of the 80s, the materialism decade, but it is so obvious, so prevalent in the movie that there is no need to. Maybe this is the real story.
Bertrand Blier is one of my most cherished French director, one of the most, if not the most accomplished, and yet he is barely known outside of France. Buffet Froid may not be the best introductory movie ("Les Valseuses" is more of an out and out comedy), but in his filmography it is the beginning of his more involved work, deeper and darker, approaching difficult subjects with a surprisingly light touch. Without "Buffet Froid" there wouldn't be "Tenue de soirée" or "Too beautiful for you". I am surprised he is not known more, especially in the UK. His very particular brand of absurd comedy has a Pythonesque quality to it. You owe it to yourself to discover Betrand Blier. You'll thank me for it!
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