[REVIEW] A Fridge Full of Laughs in Cannibal-Com Some Like It Rare
Unhappily married couple Sophie (Marina Foïs) and Vincent Pascal (Fabrice Eboué) are at their wits end with their failing butcher storefront and dwindling customer situation, which has left them depressed and in debt. Vincent is passionate about his meat; serving it up with love and care while Sophia watches on with disdain for her husband. All their woes come to an end after they mow down a vegan activist (who had vandalised their store), disposing of his body disguised as exclusive “pork” in their butcher shop, the entire town absolutely salivating to get their hands on the latest import.
Realising that the vegan diet produces high-quality meat the Pascal’s venture out with a shotgun and a cleaver to bring quality product to their store. Masquerading as vegan activists, the couple--much to Vincent’s protest--continue to hunt and harvest vegan meat, doing what they can to stay relevant and lining their pockets.
Some Like It Rare is a brilliant black comedy that utlises grisly and grimm special effects to bring home a message of over consumption and greed. While the scenes of meat preparation are somewhat confronting, it’s the obsession that the customers develop after eating the product that drives home the theme of the meat industry and gluttony. Director/writer Fabrice Eboué and writer Vincent Solignac have created a wonderful slapstick comedy that embraces fantastic and affable characters that are just trying to make it through⸺with a hand… or a few. The writing of the dialogue is witty and puts a heavy emphasis on the way in which people are manipulated through capitalistic intention and greed.
Marina Foïs portrays the brilliantly dispassionate Sophie (SoSo) who openly dislikes her husband Vincent who always seems to be doing his best, and attempts to veto her serial killing obsessed venture into the vegan meat (literal) market. There are fabulously hilarious moments; one that depicts a montage of hunting vegans out in the open, not for the faint of heart. Their relationship starts to once again resemble some of the parts that it was previous to their marriage breakdown. Even though the Pascal’s are committing heinous and gruesome crimes, you can’t help but empathise with them as they face their multi-millionaire butcher friends Marc and Stephanie. It’s these interactions of the film that make us cheer them on as the underdogs, wanting Sophie and Pascal to put them in their place. There is nothing quite like watching and hearing the working class telling the rich to go get stuffed.
Some Like It Rare is an intelligent cannibal comedy that openly mocks elitism in the vegan community. No one quite does cannibalism the way that French filmmakers do, Eboué pushes the boundaries on social commentary regarding the meat industry and militant social issue activists in a way that puts them on blast. Some Like It Rare is a fantastic canni-com that is hilarious, grisly, and heartwarming in a weird way.
Some Like It Rare is available for streaming October 14th.
