This movie was so colorful...I just never forgot it and the concept was engaging. I saw this movie in San Francisco in '73 or '74... I cannot remember all the details in order, but yes, three guys went to a villa in the countryside of France and ordered huge amounts of food to be delivered. At first, you just thought it was a fun party, then it got to be bigger and bigger...women came by, etc, etc. I had lived in Europe just prior to seeing this movie and I so enjoyed the scenery and just the ambiance. I assumed it was not a what they would call a full running movie and just played in certain theaters but a place like San Francisco in the 70's had the right audience.

Superb black comedy of an ageing quartet gathered for a feast of epic proportions in which they indulge every gluttonous whim with culinary abandon. Their erotic gorging, groping and fondling of food and flesh is both appetising and arresting, as one by one, they stuff themselves to morbidity. It's with a tinge of sadness that their food fornication gradually comes to a halt, when the last man can no longer brook another chocolate pudding or roast pig.

Those who appreciate gourmet cooking might find appeal in the vast menu, but will likely be shocked by the flatulence-passing, naked-backside food preparation techniques of these randy chefs. The cast periodically combine their appetite for food with unbridled sexual encounters while they prepare meals, to which the viewer is treated in full detail. But while the sets, costumes and dialogue are all, equally colourful, there's a distinct lack of momentum and coherent storyline in the near two-and-a-half hour epic. I submit, respectfully, there's only so many kitchen orgies one film can sustain (particularly as this isn't a loop) without a more concrete purpose.

The cast are formidable in their distinct characterisations (and appetites), and it seems as though each has resigned to his own despair at a life unfulfilled. While Mastroianni does little cooking by comparison with Piccoli, he more than compensates with his sexual appetite at any number of the prostitutes assembled for their last supper. "Le Grande Bouffe" is a raw, uncompromising comedy like no other and should be seen to be believed.

This is one for the Pseuds Circuit by virtue of the fact that it is possible to 'read' virtually anything into it. With no plot to speak of it's just a voyeuristic trip as we watch four middle aged men literally eat themselves to death. They are described as friends but there is no back story to explain what a judge, an airline pilot, a chef and a man in the media have in common and on what basis they would form 1) a friendship and 2, a suicide pact. As long as we're tossing questions around we might also ask WHY four such disparate men should make such a decision and what, if any, provision they left for any relatives involved. For that matter we could also ask why actors of the calibre of Philippe Noiret, Michel Piccoli, Ugo Tognazzi and Marcello Mastroianni thought this was a career enhancer.