The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (1990)

Few directors polarize audiences like Peter Greenaway, a filmmaker as influenced by Jacobean revenge tragedy and 17th century painting as by the French New Wave. The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover is both adored and detested for its combination of sumptuous beauty and revolting decadence. A vile, gluttonous thief (Michael Gambon, The Singing Detective) spews hate and abuse at a restaurant run by a stoic French cook (Richard Bohringer, Diva), but under the thief's nose his wife (the ever-sensuous Helen Mirren, Prime Suspect) conducts an affair with a bookish lover (Alan Howard, Strapless). Clothing (by avant-garde designer Jean-Paul Gaultier) changes color as the characters move from room to room. Nudity, torture, rotting meat, and Tim Roth (Reservoir Dogs) at his sleaziest all contribute the atmosphere of decay and excess. Not for everyone, but for some, essential. --Bret Fetzer Amazon.com essential video

More repulsive than an old John Waters movie.

John Waters made movies that were so disgusting, they were funny- hilarious even. JW's movies were like a teenager trying to be as revolting as possible just to be funny. They were just awful- and awful-ly humorous. Yet there was no pretense of being "high art." John Waters knew he was crowning himself the queen of trash cinema.

This movie is not by John Waters. It's got all the disgusting violence and sexuality of "Desperate Living," but with a nauseating dose of pretense. The movie actually seems to think it's classy for some reason. It's because of the film's arrogance, the fact that this movie wants so desperately to be high art, that it fails.

It does look polished. It looks sumptuous. It's dazzling. Then you realize what's actually going on is so nasty it makes all the visual beauty worthless. It's kind of like a painting by H.R. Giger. At first it looks rich and full of depth, but when you actually focus in on it, you realize it's a painting of a jumbled pile of corpses (with some kind of monster mixed in for good measure).

...or maybe that's a bad analogy. I'll speak plainly.

It looks great (I've established that already). Pretty much every other aspect of the movie is either disappointing or off-putting. There's terrible violence (in some ways worse than many famous horror movies) and the whole thing reeks of pretense.

This is the perfect movie for anyone who wants to look artsy, deep, sophisticated, intellectual-- in the eyes of those who know nothing of art, depth, sophistication or intellect. May 13, 2008

A true masterpiece, but...

...not for the squeamish and certainly not for every taste. Made back before Helen Mirren and Sir Michael Gambon became "big", this film can be viewed on many levels. It's a work of art resonating with a powerful musical score, haunting imagery, black comedy and heavy symbolism. You'll not likely see this combination again. If you have a region-free player, amazon.co.uk. has it for less than ten bucks. February 18, 2008

intriguing.. but brace yourself.. or laugh a little.

very well-done film. you may have to suspend disbelief once or twice. in a few small places, reads like a play.

it takes a bit of nerve to for the director to bring (and us, to watch) our naked heros going from a love affair in the restaurant kitchen, to the kitchen freezer while the husband is searching afore mentioned kitchen (they are still completely naked while in the freezer), and from there, are hustled off into the back of a truck full of rotting meat (still naked) which is their escape vehicle.

there are some scenes in this movie that seem to inspire vegetarianism.

always with the motif of the repulsive going side by side with the delicacy of the gourmet's favorite activity - eating. i applaud this director for his frank take on the repulsive aspect of eating. the van of rotting meat, slain animals always in view, the dogs outside the restaurant, and the villainous husband with his pseudo-gourmet appreciation of the fine french restaurant. and at the same time, likening the corrupt ways of the husband/mafia character to one who preys on others; in the end, he is forced into the literal enactment of what his life, in essence, has been. January 8, 2008

Brilliant

One very, very good film. Yes, disturbing- so if you don't like to be disturbed, don't watch it. Can't remember another film since Ken Russel's "The Devils" that would make me feel this way...
Very beautiful and clever- and a great display of so many talents.
The ending is a little silly- but does not spoil the film at all. Great! November 18, 2007

Strange, Artistic and Disturbing

There is a connection between food, gluttony, sex and violence and it all intersects in Peter Greenaway's The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover. The title pretty much sets up both the characters and the plot line. Albert (Michael Gambon) is an amoral thief who pretends to greatness. He eats dinner each night over a roughly two week period at Le Hollandais run by the Cook (Richard Bohringer).

Albert is married to Georgina (Helen Mirren) who he mistreats terribly as he also mistreats everyone and everything he comes into contact with. Georgina begins a torrid affair with bookish Michael( Alan Howard) in the restaurant literally under her husband's nose. This affair is facilitated by the Cook. Suffice it to say that when the thief finds out about this affair very nasty things happen.

This is not a film for everyone. Perhaps, it is not a film for very many people. I think that there is a great allegory here of the British government under the Thatcher administration. But I'm not really a social commentator. What I do know is that this is a very angry film but it is also one of the most artistic films I've ever seen. Each shot is perfectly framed as if one were watching a painting. The costumes by Jean Paul Gaultier are fantastic and the photography by Sacha Vierny was clearly award worthy.

This is an adult film in that it was made for thinking adults. If you're looking for standard Friday night movie fare you'll want to look elsewhere. If you are not turned off by images of vile gluttony it is certainly worth a look. Although the Region 1 DVD is extemely rare it is rather easy to find a VHS version that is affordable for those who want to experience one of the most controversial films of the 1990's. September 21, 2007

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