This grisly black comedy will do nothing to dispel the old cliche about France being a nation of steak-frites-devouring meat-eaters. It’s the story of husband-and-wife butchers who become serial killers – making vegans into mincemeat, literally. It is a slight, lightweight film, gruesomely hilarious in places, with one or two echoes of the Coen brothers’ Fargo.
Giving nicely deadpan performances, Marina Foïs and director Fabrice Eboué play unhappily married butchers Sophie and Vincent, who are looking down the barrel of bankruptcy and divorce when they accidentally kill a vegan activist. Naturally, they dispose of his body using the tools of their trade. But then Sophie unwittingly puts the human meat on the shelves – and it’s an instant hit with customers (“I’ve never tasted anything like it!”). So the pair start bumping off vegans to sell as specialist pork. The only problem is maintaining their supply of human ham.
What follows is a series of farcical scenes – that are somewhat repetitive, to be honest – in which the pair pretend to be animal rights activists to lure victims. The trouble is, vegans tend to be on the skinny side – what’s needed are chunkier victims. Vincent says no to a chubby nine-year-old, because he draws the line at butchering kids, so Sophie (she’s the ruthless one) tries to persuade him: “But veal is the best of all!”
Some Like It Rare is a tasty treat for herbivores and carnivores alike, and it honestly doesn’t feel like an anti-vegan film (but then, I’m only vegetarian). There are one or two sanctimonious vegan characters, but the nastiest piece of work here is an arrogant, casually racist multimillionaire butcher. If anything, the sight of Vincent and Sophie feeding a human hand into the meat grinder is enough to put you off flesh for life, whatever the variety.
• Some Like It Rare is released on 21 March on digital platforms.
