I saw Delicatessen when I was in my last year of college. A friend had recommended it to me and the story was one of those that I was immediately drawn to just for its weirdness. It was one of those few films that I just bought without ever having seen it, knowing that it would be something that I would really enjoy. I was right, it quickly became one of my all time favorite films, and Jean Pierre Jeunet (even though he co-directed this with Marc Caro) instantly became one of my all time favorite directors.
Fast forward to last Saturday... The Rafael Film Centre was screening a copy of the film. I've never seen it on the big screen, but even better, Jeunet himself would be there to introduce the film!!! He gave a great little talk about the film including the fact that we in North America have never seen a proper print of the film. The printing process that was required for the film was rather expensive (since Darius Khondji was the cinematographer, I would imagine it was the bleach bypass process) Miramax refused to do it, so the print was never as good as the one seen in Europe. Jeunet said he was always rather embarassed by the "$#!T U.S print" as he put it. So, for this screening, a new digitally remastered print was made and we got to be the first U.S audience to see a proper print of the film. I always loved the cinematography of the film, but I was amazed by how much MORE colour there was in this print, it was simply stunning. The video copy I had was much more brown, but this new print was a true treat. Hopefully the new print means they are preparing to finally release the dvd over here, it has been something that has been missing from my collection for far too long. If you haven't seen Delicatessen, go to your local video store and hunt down a copy.
