Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows FanStore News Showtimes

How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman

Play trailer Poster for How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman Released Jun 1, 1971 1h 24m Comedy Adventure Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
Tomatometer 2 Reviews 63% Popcornmeter 250+ Ratings
A Frenchman (Arduíno Colassanti), who is part of a faction from his country trying to stake a claim to Brazil before the Portuguese colonize it, is held by a hostile tribe that assumes he is Portuguese. The tribe, allied with the French, is looking to avenge the murder of one of their members by eating a Portuguese soldier during a feast. Although the Frenchman is incorporated into village life, and even given a wife by the tribe, his fate hangs in the balance.

Critics Reviews

View All (2) Critics Reviews
Fernando F. Croce Slant Magazine Jaundiced cultural allegory dressed up as anthropological re-creation. Rated: 3/4 May 28, 2007 Full Review Shane Burridge rec.arts.movies.reviews The film-makers should have taken a hearty bite out of the Spanish while they were at it Sep 24, 2002 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (32) audience reviews
Audience Member Very strange film works well as a curiosity, but not much more. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review Audience Member 86% "In this country no Governor, no Bishop or other authority could please God, Our Lord for the evil is much impregnated in the customs."-Father Nobrega Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/17/23 Full Review Audience Member I don't care. I don't think it's that good...despite all the nudity. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 01/18/23 Full Review Audience Member NOT a 70's "cannibal horror" film, but a fascinating period piece about a 16th century Frenchman, captured by Brazilian natives who mistake him for one their (and his) Portuguese enemies. Very well done. Touches of humor, but feels almost like an ethnography. Attention to detail, to the point that most of the dialogue is in the native Tupi language. Well worth a look. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/24/23 Full Review Audience Member Reminded me a bit of EL TOPO, as someone below mentions, but far less interesting. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/08/23 Full Review Audience Member How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman (1973) Come Era Gostoso O Meu Frances (1971) short film 80 minutes. Though this is not a documentary it seems like a documentary because of the harsh lighting and some what poor production values ( by todays standards). This is a film that Werner Herzog would have made in 1970. (was he making documentaries then?) Almost all of the dialogue in the film was written in the Tupi language. The actors and actresses who portrayed the Tupinambas wore historically correct attire resulting in a considerable amount of historically correct nudity and semi-nudity in ALL scenes. "How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman" is the first absolutely non-exploitative (not nonerotic) movie I have seen to require almost total nudity from its cast, both sexes. The primary point of the film is to show us the 16th century culture clash of Europeans and native South Americans but because this is a Brazilian film it's impossible to ignore any attendant political criticism of European colonial practices during that period of history (the film-makers should have taken a hearty bite out of the Spanish while they were at it) Excellent film and great look at a world that no longer exists. A Frenchman is captured by the Tupinambas Indians. They want to eat him but decide to keep him for a while and they also provide him with a wife. He adopts and joins their culture. The directors film Vidas Secas also is a wonderful unusual film. SEE MY Lists: I have 5 lists of foreign films submitted for Foreign Oscar best film (by year) I have new list of foriegn films submitted for best foreign film for 2009 (Feb 2010 Oscars) four stars. almost five stars. Fascinating film. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/31/23 Full Review Read all reviews
How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW

Cast & Crew

Movie Info

Synopsis A Frenchman (Arduíno Colassanti), who is part of a faction from his country trying to stake a claim to Brazil before the Portuguese colonize it, is held by a hostile tribe that assumes he is Portuguese. The tribe, allied with the French, is looking to avenge the murder of one of their members by eating a Portuguese soldier during a feast. Although the Frenchman is incorporated into village life, and even given a wife by the tribe, his fate hangs in the balance.
Director
Nelson Pereira dos Santos
Producer
Luiz Carlos Barreto, K.M. Eckstein, Nelson Pereira dos Santos, César Thedim, Dib Lufti
Screenwriter
Nelson Pereira dos Santos
Distributor
New Yorker Films
Production Co
Condor Films
Genre
Comedy, Adventure
Original Language
Brazilian Portuguese
Release Date (Theaters)
Jun 1, 1971, Wide
Runtime
1h 24m