Buffet froid

Buffet froid
Theatrical release poster showing Blier, Depardieu and Carmet
Directed byBertrand Blier
Written byBertrand Blier
Produced byAlain Sarde
StarringGérard Depardieu
Bernard Blier
Jean Carmet
CinematographyJean Penzer
Edited byClaudine Merlin
Music byPhilippe Sarde and Johannes Brahms
Production
companies
Sara Films
Antenne 2
Distributed byUGC
Release date
  • 19 December 1979 (1979-12-19)
Running time
89 minutes
CountryFrance
LanguageFrench

Buffet froid (English: Cold Buffet) is a 1979 French film written and directed by Bertrand Blier, starring Gérard Depardieu, Carole Bouquet, Bernard Blier and Jean Carmet. The film is a surreal black comedy portrayed as a crime thriller, set in Paris where contemporary urban life has alienated and dehumanized the city dwellers. The film won a César Award for Best Writing, and was nominated for Best Cinematography, Editing, and Production Design.

In the film, a daydreaming man offers his bloodstained knife to a random accountant at a metro station. While the two men argue, the knife disappears. When the accountant is mysteriously murdered with this same knife, the daydreamer chats about the murder with his new neighbor, a police inspector. A series of strange encounters eventually leads to the murder of the daydreamer.