Eating RaoulWho says crime doesn't pay? The trick is knowing just what kind of people deserve a whack on the noggin with a frying pan; if you're lucky, the same kind of ill-mannered perverts who happen to carry a few hundred bucks on hand at the time. For wholesome-as-can-be Paul and Mary Bland (director Paul Bartel and Mary Woronov, respectively), their quest is to finance a country kitchen, a business of their own, their escape from the despicable cesspool of Hollywood. But when their efforts don't (ahem) pan out through the accepted channels, a chance encounter with a would-be rapist plants the idea of killing two birds with one cast-iron stone.
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Eating Raoul is a black comedy about all manner of perversity--sex, drugs, and murder, just to start--experienced through the eyes of the aptly-named Bland couple. Paul suffers by day as a wine connoisseur in a low-end liquor store, while Mary swats away the inappropriate advances of her patients while working as a nurse. Their seeming obliviousness to vice and 1950s-esque manner of cohabitation makes them as much a polar opposite to the crass and tasteless swingers infesting their apartment complex; their separate twin beds and matching pajamas seal the deal. Paul and Mary really don't belong among their skeezy neighbors, but then again who does? Their efforts to make money the decent way are fruitless, but in order to finance their dream restaurant, they must come up with twenty thousand dollars in two weeks. Paul gets ripped off when he tries to sell his rare wines, and Mary's blouse almost gets ripped off by the lascivious bank manager in private. But they say when God closes a door, he opens a window; only in this case, it's in the form of the frisky molester who vomits on their floor and ends up dead as Paul defends his wife's virtue. But even from the first of it when they cover up their crime--Mary keeps her calm in contrast to Paul's relative paralysis--they seem to be a quick study to the act of offing these corrupt elements. The fact that there's a decent amount of cash on their victims makes it an appealing prospect in light of their financial status to keep the operation in full (ahem, again) swing. The act of slaying their quarry with a frying pan just adds to the altogether "Looney Tunes" vibe of cartoon comedy permeating Eating Raoul.
One could argue that there is something a tinge fascistic about Paul and Mary's willingness to off the morally corrupt for money--ironic, too--but the loving couple are engaging, and frankly, their victims are really creeps at best, rapists at worst. The two really begin to polish their business acumen in advance by getting advice from "Doris the Dominatrix" (Susan Saiger), a leather-clad instructor in the ways of making a living by debasing her clientele. Soon, Paul and Mary's own ad in more unsavory periodicals finds them with a steady stream of customers; only, they don't get any repeats. From the misbehaved man-child, the Nazi bondage routine, to the midget with the Great Dane, each kink never gets off the ground, but Paul and Mary stand their moral firmament in the face of their twisted targets. It is following one such escapade that the eponymous Raoul (Robert Beltran), a con man posing as a locksmith, ends up stumbling over the bodies (almost literally), and decides he wants a cut of the action, as he hustles the amateur hustlers; for Raoul, this means money, as well as his desire for Mary. Raoul's experience in criminal acts gives him a leg up in terms of turning a profit from the bodies--tip: may want to stay away from Doggie King brand dog food--and in fact makes the operation somewhat more secure for the duo. But following an unfortunate mix-up in timing with one client, leaving Raoul forced to save Mary from her hippie assailant, Raoul and Mary begin a secret affair. The hot-blooded Hispanic decides that he doesn't want to share Mary, and even tries to off the generally mild-mannered sommelier, leading Paul on his own unique brand of revenge against Raoul for making him a cuckold.
For a film chock full of perverse sex jokes, murder for cheap profit, and even cannibalism, Eating Raoul remains consistently light-hearted, wearing its shameless humor with a joyful grin. There is a sense of naughty humor in Mary--already observed by several trashy men in the film--since she is very attractive, possessed of a fine, statuesque figure. Her propensity toward wearing either revealing clothing or her fetishistic nurse's outfit--complete with paper hat--gives her a certain quality which might make her at home in a Playboy comic strip. And though nudity is no stranger in Eating Raoul, with special regard to the climactic swingers party near the end of the film, the movie remains playful and even charming throughout. By the time we reach the end, we can recall that Paul and Mary have effectively left dozens of corpses in their wake, engaged in a multitude of illegal activity, and served a shockingly unorthodox dinner to their loan consultant (consider the title), but don't seem phased by the experience in the slightest. It's as though the pair have finally found their true calling; that, or they're so set upon their dream that they can't let a little thing like the law get in the way of it. Eating Raoul was produced on a relatively small budget, but proved to be a profitable film; in other words, a success. The point being that even when one has so little, it's amazing what one can--as Paul so aptly puts it--do with a "cheap piece of meat". Eating Raoul shows how tenacity and determination can count for a lot in making something special. Bon Appétit!
Recommended for: Fans of a silly but sweet black comedy about virtue and vice, of those who swing and those who swing frying pans down on a pervert's skull. It's a humble story of realizing one's dream, and not being afraid to take out the trash on the way out. And who knows? Might even be a choice pick for a family movie night; depends on the folks, I suppose.
One could argue that there is something a tinge fascistic about Paul and Mary's willingness to off the morally corrupt for money--ironic, too--but the loving couple are engaging, and frankly, their victims are really creeps at best, rapists at worst. The two really begin to polish their business acumen in advance by getting advice from "Doris the Dominatrix" (Susan Saiger), a leather-clad instructor in the ways of making a living by debasing her clientele. Soon, Paul and Mary's own ad in more unsavory periodicals finds them with a steady stream of customers; only, they don't get any repeats. From the misbehaved man-child, the Nazi bondage routine, to the midget with the Great Dane, each kink never gets off the ground, but Paul and Mary stand their moral firmament in the face of their twisted targets. It is following one such escapade that the eponymous Raoul (Robert Beltran), a con man posing as a locksmith, ends up stumbling over the bodies (almost literally), and decides he wants a cut of the action, as he hustles the amateur hustlers; for Raoul, this means money, as well as his desire for Mary. Raoul's experience in criminal acts gives him a leg up in terms of turning a profit from the bodies--tip: may want to stay away from Doggie King brand dog food--and in fact makes the operation somewhat more secure for the duo. But following an unfortunate mix-up in timing with one client, leaving Raoul forced to save Mary from her hippie assailant, Raoul and Mary begin a secret affair. The hot-blooded Hispanic decides that he doesn't want to share Mary, and even tries to off the generally mild-mannered sommelier, leading Paul on his own unique brand of revenge against Raoul for making him a cuckold.
For a film chock full of perverse sex jokes, murder for cheap profit, and even cannibalism, Eating Raoul remains consistently light-hearted, wearing its shameless humor with a joyful grin. There is a sense of naughty humor in Mary--already observed by several trashy men in the film--since she is very attractive, possessed of a fine, statuesque figure. Her propensity toward wearing either revealing clothing or her fetishistic nurse's outfit--complete with paper hat--gives her a certain quality which might make her at home in a Playboy comic strip. And though nudity is no stranger in Eating Raoul, with special regard to the climactic swingers party near the end of the film, the movie remains playful and even charming throughout. By the time we reach the end, we can recall that Paul and Mary have effectively left dozens of corpses in their wake, engaged in a multitude of illegal activity, and served a shockingly unorthodox dinner to their loan consultant (consider the title), but don't seem phased by the experience in the slightest. It's as though the pair have finally found their true calling; that, or they're so set upon their dream that they can't let a little thing like the law get in the way of it. Eating Raoul was produced on a relatively small budget, but proved to be a profitable film; in other words, a success. The point being that even when one has so little, it's amazing what one can--as Paul so aptly puts it--do with a "cheap piece of meat". Eating Raoul shows how tenacity and determination can count for a lot in making something special. Bon Appétit!
Recommended for: Fans of a silly but sweet black comedy about virtue and vice, of those who swing and those who swing frying pans down on a pervert's skull. It's a humble story of realizing one's dream, and not being afraid to take out the trash on the way out. And who knows? Might even be a choice pick for a family movie night; depends on the folks, I suppose.