Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 1 rating
An early example of ultra-realism, this movie contrasts the quiet, bucolic life in the outskirts of Paris with the harsh, gory conditions inside the nearby slaughterhouses. Describes the fate of the animals and that of the workers in graphic detail.
Georges Franju's landmark short documentary is a masterpiece of juxtaposition — the dreamlike, poetic opening of Parisian suburbs giving way to brutal, unflinching slaughterhouse footage. Its cinematography by Marcel Fradetal is genuinely exceptional, framing industrial carnage with an almost surrealist aesthetic that elevates it beyond mere shock value. Novelty is very high: it essentially invented a mode of documentary filmmaking that blurs poetry and horror, influencing decades of provocateurs. Acting is not really applicable in a traditional sense, and the narration, while effective, is somewhat dispassionate. The ending, while tonally consistent, doesn't quite reach the heights of the film's extraordinary midsection.