All at once nightmarish cannibal horror and romantic comedy, good-natured fairytale, and hyper-stylised allegory of French wartime collaboration and resistance, this collective debut from Marc Caro & Jean-Pierre Jeunet is dizzyingly difficult to pin down

With its molelike inhabitants, its sprawling war between flesh-eaters and lentil-men, its achingly sweet love story and surrealist blend of dusty antiquities and 21st-century gizmos, Delicatessen is indescribably wild.

All of this is handled in a breezy, off-handed, nutsy manner, as the superb cast combines to help bring it off.

While black comedies are often known for their cynicism, this one maintains an unorthodox esprit de corp.