Foutaises (1989)
Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Film Review

This little gem of cinematic surrealism from Jean-Pierre Jeunet is of course now immediately recognisable as a precursor for his subsequent films, such as Delicatessen and Le Fabuleux destin d'Amelié Poulain.  Jeunet's distinctive visual style, particularly his unique way of drawing us into the fantasy world of his film's main character, is very much in evidence.  The film's opening sequence, where the camera pans along a shelf in a butcher's shop, instantly reminds us of Delicatessen, the film which Jeunet went on to make with Marc Caro.   Another link with that film is its main actor, Dominique Pinon, whose rubber face goes through the most extraordinary contortions in the course of this film.

Film Synopsis

Two years before he teamed up with Marc Caro to write and direct the film that would make him world famous, namely Delicatessen, Jean-Pierre Jeunet roped the star of that film, Dominique Pinon, into enumerating a long list of likes and dislikes in this whimsical short film.   Foutaises means 'nonsensical things' in French, and this is an apt summation for those things that get right up Pinon's nose.  Water drops that irritatingly decide to splash upwards when you least want them to, or over-affectionate dogs that wake you up just when you are enjoying a well-deserved lie in - these are two of Pinon's pet hates.  Plucking nasal hair is also high on the actor's never-ending blacklist, an experience that arouses enough emotional force to decimate whole tower blocks.  Men who grow beards without a moustache are as likely to be abolished as butcher shops, if Pinon had his way.  On the other side of the equation, there are plenty of likes that most of us can easily identify with - running up escalators the wrong way, mucking about in freshly fallen snow and rejoicing in the long-awaited departure for the summer holidays.  But of all the things that gladden Pinon's soul few are as fondly cherished as the moment when, whilst watching a film, love puts in an appearance...