Buffet froid

Buffet froid (English: Cold Buffet) is a 1979 French film written and directed by Bertrand Blier, starring Gérard Depardieu, Carole Bouquet, Bernard Blier and Jean Carmet. The film is a surreal black comedy portrayed as a crime thriller, set in Paris where contemporary urban life has alienated and dehumanized the city dwellers. The film won a César Award for Best Screenplay, Dialogue or Adaptation, and was nominated for Best Cinematography, Editing, and Production Design.

In the film, a daydreaming man offers his bloodstained knife to a random accountant at a metro station. While the two men argue, the knife disappears. When the accountant is mysteriously murdered with this same knife, the daydreamer chats about the murder with his new neighbor, a police inspector. A series of strange encounters eventually leads to the murder of the daydreamer.

Plot

The film begins at La Défense station (RER), with Alphonse Tram (Gérard Depardieu), a dreamy loner, chatting with an accountant who is travelling home very late. The accountant, a man of orthodox social outlook and standing is disturbed by and fearful of this rambling loner, more so when Tram attempts to give him his bloodstained knife (in order to reduce the chances of him "doing something silly..."). They argue and the accountant puts the knife on a seat a few feet away behind them. They talk more and then notice the knife has disappeared.