Blood of the Beasts (1949)

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Blood of the Beasts (1949) – G. Franju

To a vegetarian, this is essentially a snuff film.  Animals die in a slaughterhouse.  However, director Georges Franju treats the topic in a way that is not too far afield from David Lynch’s Blue Velvet.  That is, we see Paris and its tranquil daily life and then we go behind the façade to find out how meat is made available.  Of course, in 1949, the killing is done by hand, by trained professionals (who nevertheless get cysts and other injuries in the course of their work).  The film (only 20 minutes) is sometimes referred to as surreal and perhaps a pile of calves heads (after they are slaughtered to make veal) is an unusual image – but it is all too real, not surreal.  Franju went on to make Eyes Without a Face, which is definitely surreal and horrific. In that film, a surgeon preys on young women in order to find a new face for his daughter (after a car accident).  Perhaps the same moral coldness underscores both films.