How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman (1971) User Reviews (19)

The Beginning of the Exploitation of Brazil in a Very Realistic Movie

[claudio_carvalho · 8/10 · 29 April 2005]

In 1594 in Brazil, the Tupinambas Indians are friends of the Frenches and their enemies are the Tupiniquins, friends of the Portugueses. A Frenchman (Arduíno Colassanti) is captured by the Tupinambás, and in spite of his trial to convince them that he is French, they believe he is Portuguese. The Frenchman becomes their slave, and maritally lives with Seboipepe (Ana Maria Magalhães). Later, he uses powder in the cannons that the Portuguese left behind to defeat the Tupiniquins in a battle. In order to celebrate the victory, the Indians decide to eat him.

"Como Era Gostoso o Meu Francês" is another great low budget movie of the great Brazilian director Nélson Pereira dos Santos. The screenplay is very original and the story is spoken in Tupi. The film is shot using natural light most of the time and is very realistic. The actors and actresses perform naked and Ana Maria Magalhães is magnificent, showing a wonderful body and giving a stunning performance. The sound is produced by the Brazilian musician Zé Rodrix. This movie shows the beginning of the exploitation of my country by Europeans, focusing in the Portuguese and French at that time, trading with the Indians and exchanging combs and mirrors by our natural resources. This movie was awarded in the national festivals, such as the 1971 Brazilian Cinema Festival of Brasília (Festival de Brazília do Cinema Brasileiro) with Best Screenplay (Nelson Pereira dos Santos), Best Dialog (Nelson Pereira dos Santos and Humberto Mauro) and Best Cenograph (Régis Monteiro); Art Critics Association of São Paulo (Associação Paulista dos Críticos de Arte), with best Revelation of the Year (Ana Maria Magalhães) and some other prizes. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Como Era Gostoso o Meu Francês" ("How Tasty Was My Frenchman")

Like Dances with Wolves, except with cannibals

[CelluloidRehab · 6/10 · 19 June 2007]

This is a pseudo-documentary about a French mercenary whom is executed, ends up as a prisoner of the Portuguese and then is the "honored guest" of a cannibalistic Brazilian native tribe. The film is based on the 16th century account of a German explorer, Hans Staden, who was captured by the Tupinamba. The Frenchman becomes part of the tribe, is even given a wife and a hut, until he is to be eaten in a massive ceremony. During this time he tries to figure out a way to escape, by conforming to the tribe.

This film was originally banned in Brazil and was rejected from the Cannes Film Festival because of excessive nudity. The subject matter is portrayed in a documentary style, complete with shaky hand camera footage and including the spoken languages of French, Portuguese and Tupi. With the exception of the few European characters, the majority of the cast spends the film either bottomless, topless or both (also both sexes). The production value appears at first to be quite underwhelming, but I think instead it tries to emulate the simplicity and actuality of the situation rather than some ornate (or romanticized) recollection.

At the same time it is trying to be an objective observer, it is also a critique of mercantilism and its descendants; monetarism and capitalism. There is no real judgment being issued here, but rather is a look at the encounter of the cultures, in an anthropological or rather a more realistic reinterpretation of what occurred when these cultures interacted. Some have said this a black comedy, but I did not find too many places to break out into a roaring laughter (though I did chuckle a few times at the cultural misunderstandings).

This may sound like a rather dry film (which it is), but the relatively short running time makes it seem more like a PBS special than an actual feature film. The movie would also seem to resonate more with the situation and culture of Brazil (past and present). Brazil is a unique country, with a diverse history and culture. It was one of the first films that tried to relate to the "savages", in light of the audience's identification with the Europeans. Even 30 years later, its relevance continues.

Naturalist movie brings back to life the lost world of Brazil

[marcio9145 · 8/10 · 18 May 2009]

I grew up in Brazil and I used to visit and marvel at the beautiful coast where the movie was filmed. The area is called "Parati" and is part of the "Green Coast" of the Rio de Janeiro state. It is some 150 miles from the Rio de Janeiro city.

This movie brings back to life the world of 16th century Brazil, where Europeans were barely starting to explore the coastline, which was still in pristine state and sparsely populated by various native tribes. French and Portuguese fought each other for territory and for the upper hand on the Brazil wood trade, all the while negotiating with the natives, who also fought each other for whatever reasons.

One French misfit ("a mercenary") is left to die by his own compatriots but manages to escape and is kept prisoner by an all-naked native tribe. While he is a "slave" of the chief, according to the customs of the tribe, he is allowed to live in relative comfort for months until the time is right for him to be killed and eaten in a ritual of revenge.

What I love about this film is that it recreates in loving detail the natives' villages and their way-of-life (they walked naked and were cannibals) and asks us to recognize and accept the life in those times as it was: in a gorgeous garden-of-eden, life was messy, violent, full of pathetic superstition and bizarre customs. The Europeans arrive and bring their own problems, including more violence with better weapons and greed. There is no romanticized "noble savages" or "heroic explorers" here, it is just people trying to survive in a tough world.

The movie is neither unduly sympathetic nor dismissive of the natives. From what I know of the subject, the depiction is fairly accurate which adds an air of uniqueness to the project: how many movies have you seen regarding the lives of Brazilian natives and their early affairs with Europeans?

A great film if you can find it.

[chewbacuh1 · 5 March 2002]

This movie is one of those that actually transports you into another time. It takes place during the 16th century with the age of colonization.

It is about a Frenchman who is mistaken as an enemy of the tribe that captures him. They think he's Portugese and since all white men look the same, he is their enemy until they can be convinced otherwise. The film, shot beautifuuly, follows his adventures as he lives among the tribe as one of their own, until the appointed time he is to be eaten. The film tries to show realism, therefore everyone is totally nude as they were in that era of time. Unlike most of today's blockbusters, this film has no special effects, no explosions, and it actually has some acting. Rent it if you can, but chances are it isn't at your local quickie mart.

How Have They All Shaved Their Pubes?

[jzappa · 7/10 · 22 February 2009]

I was hardly aware of the time in history depicted in this 1971 Brazilian black comedy, however that is not to say it wasn't accessible to me because the movie makes it very clear. It's set in 16th century Brazil, where rival French and Portuguese settlers are exploiting the indigineous people as confederates in their battle to assert dominance. What is particularly interesting about the movie is that it is made by the Portuguese from the point of view of the French. The hero is a likable Frenchman, the Portuguese are barbarians, and the rest of the French are oppressive and greedy. The film's Portuguese makers are objective because when all is said and done, we see that it makes no difference whose side one takes. It's about heredity overpowered by environment in a time starkly defined by tribes. Enemies are made and perpetuated, and like so, the environmental integration never progresses.

A Frenchman is captured by the Portuguese is then captured by an indigenous tribe, the Tupinambas, after they massacre a group of Portuguese. The tribe's shaman predicted they would find a strong Portuguese man to cannibalize as revenge for the chief's brother being killed by a Portugeuse musket ball. Thinking the Frenchman is Portuguese, they believe they now have one. Nevertheless, the Frenchman is granted unrestrained course of the village, is sooner or later given a wife, and assumes their accustomed appearance rather than his Western clothes, or any clothes. Another Frenchman comes to the village and tells the tribe that their prisoner is indeed Portuguese, then assures the incensed Frenchman that he will tell them the truth when the Frenchman finds a secret treasure trove that another European has hidden nearby.

I found the opening scene funny, because its narration apposed with its contradictions on- screen serve as great satire, even if the movie didn't seem to want to maintain that tone very much more often. It's actually not a terribly riveting film. The bountiful, essential locale, fierce way of life and ripened native women make not only the Frenchman, but us, too, forget any threat, and we have the feeling of him as a free man. It should not be that terribly hard to escape. The cannibalism is as scarce of desire as the full-frontal nudity of the cast, suggested in lieu as the representative core of Pereira dos Santos's dry political cartoon of New World mythology and undeveloped social coherence. At any rate, this 1500s-era social commentary, shot on location at a bay with 365 islands, played almost entirely nude and almost entirely written in Tupi, encourages effective breakdown of established ways which are topical because they've repeated themselves for centuries.

It looks like a silent movie, but with dialogues in Tupi language

[lso-soares · 6/10 · 24 February 2022]

Another movie I watched from Cinema Novo, this time for the fourth class of the course taught by Prof. Alisson Gutemberg for the Film Analysis Club (Cinema with Theory).

The film is part of the third and final phase of Cinema Novo, when colors and a tone of comedy were adopted by the directors, especially in Como Era Gostoso O Meu Francês and Macunaíma (also the theme of the same class).

How delicious my French was, directed by Nelson Pereira dos Santos and it's not an easy film to understand if you don't know a little about the history of Brazil. Most of the dialogues are in the Tupi language (credits to the great filmmaker Humberto Mauro), a language spoken by the Tupiniquim and Tupinambá tribes. There is little speaking in French and Portuguese from Portugal. None of the dialogues have subtitles for Portuguese. Thus, we have to understand what happens on the screens through the images, through what we know about Brazilian history and through the intertitles with excerpts from historical documents signed by Mem de Sá, Hans Staden, among others.

The film's prologue leads us to believe that we will be watching a comedy, as a narrator tells a story, but the scenes we see are completely the opposite of what we see. Something like passing the wrong information, the so-called current fake news, as if it were the truth. But after the prologue is over, the film takes on a documentary air. However, it makes a new reading of what we have learned in history, with the Indians having complete control of the situation and fighting on an equal footing with the Portuguese and French invaders. It has a clear reference to the Modern Art Week of 1922, when the anthropophagic movement was launched. In the film, we have literal anthropophagy, as the tupinambás were cannibals and prepared the French to eat it in commemoration of the victory in the war against the tupiniquins, and metaphorical anthropophagy, which the modernist movement preached, that is, swallowing foreign culture to to create a new culture, totally Brazilian, in the film represented by the French assimilation of habits and customs of the tribe in which he was a prisoner, becoming one of them, walking naked, hunting and even with the same haircut as the other Indians.

It was the first time I saw this movie and I confess that I was a little bored, mainly because I had to listen to a language I don't know, without having a translation. I felt like I was watching a silent film, with intertitles, but with colors and dialogue.

Another point to highlight is the influence of Tropicalismo, a movement that began in the late 1960s, early 1970s, with the appreciation of Brazilian colors and landscapes.

One of best movies ever made, but then I have weird tastes

[tho-3 · 10/10 · 5 October 1999]

I saw this movie at a college film festival back in the 70's - I have been waiting FOREVER for this movie to come out on video (finally it's out). It was made in Brazil, so I assumed that was why it hadn't made it to video yet. I have been checking video stores for the past 15 years waiting for this outstanding movie to come out! It is one of my all-time favorites - but be warned, it is weird, like Werner Herzog weird - its weirdness stems from its super-realism.

The movie is based on a true incident back a few centuries ago, in pre-colonial times, when Europeans were first encountering the tribes in the Amazon. A white man is mistaken by a savage tribe of cannibals as their enemy, so they intend to kill him. Before they dispatch him, though, they make him part of their tribe (their custom). The entire movie is like watching a National Geographic documentary as he becomes an accepted member of their tribe. That's it. Cosmic plotline? No. Intense insight into the variety of human life? Definitely.

Oh yeah... be warned... this film has definite nudity - this is not some Hollywood schlock flick about noble savages... this film tells it like it was (re-read above: National Geographic, super-realism)

More comedy than documentary

[franbelle10 · 7/10 · 2 April 2024]

This is an unusual film, taking a true story and turning it into a philosophical comedy about the nature of man, civilisation and barbarism. For the purposes of philosophical demonstration, the conclusion diverges sharply from the experience as recounted by the navigator Hans Staden. The moral lesson is pleasant thanks to this, despite the occasional length. Clearly this film leans more towards comedy than documentary.

The same subject was dealt with in a less nudist, less caricatured, less amusing and darker way in 1999, but just as anthropologically under the title "Hans Staden", which I prefer by a narrow margin.

A unique film experience

[lcrews · 9/10 · 5 November 2002]

How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman tells a story that is alternately sad, scary and life-affirming. It ends with a brutal finale that you knew had to happen, even though you were hoping--maybe even beleiving--it wouldn't.

Utlimately, this is the film's greatest strength: it expertly plays with your emotions and expectations, then drops a bomb on you.

I saw this in a film theory class at USC back in the mid-'90s. It is not easy to find, but is definitely worth hunting for.

I kept waiting for more.....

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 23 June 2012]

This film is the story of a Frenchman who was captured by natives in Brazil who thought he was Portuguese. This was a serious problem, as the tribe HATED the Portuguese and planned on eating him. However, instead of eating the guy right away, he was allowed to live among them for several months--and the film is about this in between time. However, the end does come and they DO kill and eat him.

"How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman" sure looked like a comedy based on the description from Netflix. And, the introductory portion was, at times, funny (as what happened and what the narrator said were NOT one in the same). But as for the rest of the movie, I could see nothing that was remotely funny. Now I am not saying the film is without merit --it just wasn't close to what I expected. I should note that in addition to being a completely unfunny film, it may well shock you with its depictions of full frontal nudity. Now this DID make sense, as these native tribes did NOT run around in loin cloths--hence the film would be interesting to historians, anthropologists and the like. But, as I said, it probably will be a bit of a shock seeing all these shaved genitals (as well as shaved eyebrows). And, sadly the story just isn't that interesting--and I kept expecting SOMETHING to happen that would make the viewing experience worth my time but didn't. Technically, it's well made but why make a dreary film like this?! If you are expecting a film like "Eating Raoul", keep looking...

A unique film experience- Contains Spoiler

[lcrews · 9/10 · 5 November 2002]

How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman tells a story that is alternately sad, scary and life-affirming. It ends with a brutal finale that you knew had to happen, even though you were hoping--maybe even beleiving--it wouldn't.

Utlimately, this is the film's greatest strength: it expertly plays with your emotions and expectations, then drops a bomb on you.

I saw this in a film theory class at USC back in the mid-'90s. It is not easy to find, but is definitely worth hunting for.

The Naked and the Dead

[kenjha · 5/10 · 27 May 2007]

Low-budget film about a Frenchman enslaved by Indians in 16th century Brazil. So low-budget that no costumes are used - the performers are naked...OK supposedly that's not due to the budget but for authenticity. The men are seen in all their natural glory while the women wear G-strings. The nudity is rather distracting, specially while trying to read the subtitles. The film does not have much of a plot. It just wanders aimlessly and seems to go on far longer than its 84 min length. Magalhaes is attractive as the tribeswoman who becomes the "wife" of the Frenchman. There's a lot of violence. Given the title, the fate of the naked French guy is never in doubt.

This is a film once seen - you'll never forget it.

[raybea · 23 July 2001]

Why have I never heard of this remarkable film before? It is totally riveting, engrossing. A Frenchman is captured by an Indian tribe in coastal Brazil not so long after Columbus discovered the New World. He is taken as a slave into the village, given a beautiful girl (widow of a warrior he had killed) as his wife, and told that in eight months they will eat him.

The growth of his relationship with the tribe and his native bride, and his acceptance of their ways - while still desperately searching for ways to escape - are spellbinding. This is authentically done, so no-one in the movie wears much more than a string of beads. But you quickly realise how superficial clothes are, and before long you cease noticing that no-one is wearing any. As for the climax - oh boy....

a remarkable setting in images of the wild thought

[xavier-josset · 10/10 · 23 August 2007]

Without "mental anachronism", this film which I would like to find in DVD offer an extraordinary diving in the vital and mental context of thought of the people before the "disenchantment of the world". That, there is thirty years, a director and a scenario writer could test one such empathy and such a romantic truth to do it of them masterpiece leaves me astounding. It would be necessary to be able to see and re-examine it film for better seizing than the temporal and cultural distance us to make lose of capacity to be included/understood, analyze and finally to accept of such or such example of "primitive thought". Because this thought maintaining almost impossible to feel in the secularized world however contain certain keys of our behavior, that only them future generations will be able to analyze with sufficient relevance. If somebody knows where I then to get a numerical copy or VHS to me or DVD… thank you in advance.

Read before about the methods of the cannibals

[mariojacobs · 10/10 · 8 October 2020]

In order to fully understand this movie, I strongly recommend the reading of chapter XI "A antropofagia ritual dos tupinambás" in the book "A RELIGIÃO DOS TUPINAMBÁS" written by Alfred Métraux. The film is very accurate to the depiction from surviving eyewitnesses.

Wonderfully Tasty

[lledovicente-22566 · 8/10 · 8 May 2022]

How Tasty was my Little Frenchman is a film that takes no stance on the history of Brazil. This piece of third cinema symbolizes the epitomy of Tropicalism which is when third cinema started utilizing Hollywood techniques to reach a wider audience apart from its already national following. This film is part of revolutionary cinema (aka third cinema) which seeks to involve the viewer in the political environment behind the film. During the 1060s and 1970s Brazil was experiencing mass political persecution of people from the right and left, this can be seen in the beginning with the "trial" of the Frenchman.

As for the film, it has a captivating story that isn't driven by the usual heroic perspectives of main characters. Despite some highly questionable stereotypes , It simply tells an interesting story that is also deeply rooted in the history of Brazil.

Cultural differences, third cinema acceptance

[hurstmatte · 15 September 2004]

Nelson Pereira dos Santos' 'Como Era Gostoso o Meu Francês' (renamed 'How tasty was my little Frenchman' for its US release) is a good example of the cultural centrism and the difficulties in translation of the movement towards a new cinema. In it's realistic, non-judgmental portrayal of 16th century Brazil, Santos is able to speak for people who could never have spoken to us today. Yet the differences in culture on the natives of that land are difficult to understand through the lens in which history is written by its victors.

Santos' involvement in the cinema novo style is immediately apparent, as it manifests in photographic realism. The lighting in each frame looks entirely natural (and than likely it only uses natural light) and camera movement is limited if any happened at all. Sound is clear and loud, but the near absence of post-production sound effects immerses the viewer in voices and nature. The main exception to the natural style of the film is the occasional inclusion of tribal music in the background, which use some reed-type instrument that might not be accurate for the tribal theme.

The main obstacle for the viewer is a culture that they have very little concept of before the film. Unlike Hollywood films that sanitize their portrayal of native Americans with stereotypical clothing, Santos' rightly presents the native peoples' of Brazil as they were – without clothes. At times the film looks more like an issue of national geographic than a fictional story. The indifference to the tribe's practice of cannibalism not only comes from the perspective of the tribe, but even the Portugese in the film act in apathy towards it. If anything, the film comes just short of glorifying cannibalism until it justifies the act through vengeful rights. Indeed the mistaken Frenchman too accepts his place in the history of the oppressed natives, and as our protagonist he leads the audience to accepting it as well. The marriage of the tribe's woman and the Frenchman parallels Brazil's past and future, but in some ways encourages that a co-existence is possible if tolerance can be given. All of these cultural differences form a boundary to the audience that can be broken down if one can accept the history of oppression and integrate them into the themes of acceptance in the film.

A Tale of South American Colonization

[paop · 10 December 2010]

This history plot of this movie was inspired from real facts depicted in Jean de Lery's book "Voyage en terre de Brésil" (portuguese: Viagem à terra do Brasil), which was written after what Lery himself witnessed before he left for Europe. The text which is read in the overture (in Portuguese) is a letter from Nicolas Durand de Villegagnon, the founder and leader of what should have been the "France Antarctique", a French colony in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This enterprise was made in the context of French religion wars, and there was a latent antagonism between protestant and Catholics which was brought to Rio, ending with the expulsion of several French, which left for the continent (the colony was located in an island about 1 km from land – today is the Naval College). These were the historical facts from which Nelson Pereira dos Santos started his movie, as nobody ever knows the destiny of some Frenchmen who were forced to left the island, so he made a history from this. The year of these events was 1557, as in Villegagnon's letter in the overture, and it is in Lery's book. By 1594 there was practically no more Tupinambá indians, killed many years before by smallpox and other diseases and Portuguese weapons (don't believe everything you read in Wikipedia). I've seen this movie in the big screen back in 1971, and I can tell it left a strong impression because of the nudity but most of people came to accept it first because everybody perceived a great sense of authenticity, even without any historical knowledge and that the Tupinambá's life really should have been the way it was portrayed by the director. The location of the movie was in Paraty, 1970, in a landscape very close to that of 400 years before, magnificent beaches, mountains and exuberant nature. However if you were Portuguese and felled in the hands of the Tupinambá that will not help much. A great movie, well ahead of its time and a precious and historically accurate tale about the European colonization of the then strange world of South America.

Achieves little

[federovsky · 31 May 2014]

This gets plaudits for its naturalism, though it all looks pretty bogus to me and not in any way transporting. In fact it was fairly dull, the story of a westerner held captive by cannibals is almost a cliché since Melville's Typee. The twist is that the man is French but the Amazonian natives think he's Portuguese and therefore fit for the pot. They keep him for a long while as an honoured captive, native wife thrown in, pending sacrifice.

Production quality is amateurish and the director would better have employed a more existential approach - someone is about to get eaten, after all. The Frenchman's attitude to his situation is comical. There's nothing stopping him escaping, but he lives there quite happily up until and including the day of the banquet in which he is plat du jour.

What's really missing is atmosphere. It's all shot under bright sunlight. And given the decision to sensationalise cannibalism in the title it's easy to suppose that all the nudity is done disingenuously for lurid effect - in any case, reviewers can't help going on about it. While apt for the time and place, it is a distraction to the modern viewer and the filmmakers might somehow have cut down on the number of flapping willies (the women have tiny g-strings). Well, that's a moot point, but the overall feel is hippy-ish rather than realistic.

It's a bit different but nothing special.