Buffet Froid

Alphonse Tram talks to a man in a metro station and shortly afterwards finds the same man with Alphonse's own knife in his chest. He goes home. His neighbour, a police inspector living across the landing, is not interested; he has killed someone himself. Then a serial killer joins them. The three of them start moving around together. The subject is not murder but nothing having any consequence. Nobody is arrested, nobody runs, nobody is surprised; the film dismantles logic step by step and does it in an entirely calm register. The form is empty: a newly built housing estate where nobody lives, deserted motorways, dark woods. The image is cold and there is almost no crowd anywhere. Bertrand Blier wrote and directed. Bernard Blier, who plays the inspector, is his father; the two had worked together before. The film split opinion in France but won the César for best screenplay. Gérard Depardieu plays Alphonse and Jean Carmet the killer. Who it is for: viewers who like absurdist comedy and narratives that refuse logic. Who it is not for: anyone expecting explanation; the film justifies nothing and gives no answer at the end.