Some Like It Rare

A French black comedy set in a butcher's shop. Vincent and Sophie are butchers. The shop came from his father, sales are falling, and people no longer eat meat. Their marriage is in the same state. Both are tired of the other and they are talking about separating. One night the shop window is broken. Vegan activists write on the wall and it escalates. Then there is an accident. One of the activists dies and Vincent does not know what to do with the body. He takes it to the shop. The next day there is a new product on the counter. Customers taste it and a queue forms outside. From there the film is a story about growing a business. Demand rises, stock runs out, and the couple has to find a new line of supply. What the narrative is interested in is not cannibalism but marriage: two people had not been able to talk for years and only become partners again once they commit a crime together. The target is on both sides. The film mocks vegan activism and the meat industry alike and proves nobody right. Violence is not shown but the implication is plain. The narrative films the kitchen scenes as ordinary work, and the discomfort comes from that. The tone is dry. The jokes are not raised; everything is told in a calm voice as if normal. Fabrice Eboué, Marina Foïs and Virginie Hocq are in the cast. Fabrice Eboué directed, co-wrote and stars. Who it is for: anyone who likes black comedy that pushes at the limit. Who it is not for: anyone who will be revolted by the subject, and anyone expecting balanced satire; the film builds its joke on one idea and repeats itself in the last section.