The Palme d'Or
Pulp Fiction won the top prize at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival, cementing Tarantino's international breakthrough.
Movie
Pulp Fiction
You won’t know the facts until you’ve seen the fiction.
A burger-loving hit man, his philosophical partner, a drug-addled gangster's moll and a washed-up boxer converge in this sprawling, comedic crime caper. Their adventures unfurl in three stories that ingeniously trip back and forth in time.
Why it's in the Vault
Pulp Fiction is a landmark of American cinema that seems determined to dismantle the rules of Hollywood storytelling from within. Quentin Tarantino constructs a sprawling criminal mosaic in which conversations, digressions and apparently insignificant details matter as much as the violence. Its non-linear structure refuses the reassuring progression of a conventional thriller, while its characters are denied the heroic protection audiences have learned to expect. John Travolta's Vincent Vega initially appears to occupy the center of the story, only to meet a startlingly mundane and antiheroic fate. The film's pleasure lies precisely in this unpredictability: its sharp writing, eccentric rhythms, black humor and refusal to provide an easy, traditional ending. With its conversational freedom and fragmented structure, it sometimes evokes the spirit of European auteur cinema within an unmistakably American genre film. Bold, endlessly quotable and brilliantly performed, Pulp Fiction remains a genuine cult classic.
— Matty, Curator of the Vault
Atmosphere
Unpredictable, stylish, irreverent, tense, darkly comic
Narrative inventiveness
Dark humor
Criminal tension
Irreverent style
Contains graphic violence, shootings, blood, drug use and overdose, frequent strong language, racial slurs, sexual violence and disturbing situations.
Dans les coulisses
Ce qu'on ne voit pas à l'écran
Travolta's Comeback
The role of Vincent Vega revitalized John Travolta's film career and earned him an Academy Award nomination.
A Story Told Out of Order
The film's chapters deliberately rearrange chronology, allowing characters to reappear after events that would normally end their stories.
Vincent's Antiheroic Death
Rather than receiving a grand farewell, Vincent is killed during an ordinary, almost absurdly vulnerable moment.
The Mysterious Briefcase
Tarantino never reveals the contents of Marsellus Wallace's glowing briefcase, leaving one of the film's most famous mysteries unresolved.
An Oscar for Writing
Tarantino and Roger Avary won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1995.
Aux origines
An original screenplay by Quentin Tarantino, with story credit shared with Roger Avary
Palette
Les couleurs du film
Pulp Yellow#E4B443
Mia's Lipstick#A53738
Vincent's Suit#25282C
Jack Rabbit's Red#B65D47
Diner Cream#D7C7A2
Neon Night#65506C
Images
