The wife of a barbaric crime boss engages in a secretive romance with a gentle bookseller between meals at her husband’s restaurant. Food, colour coding, sex, murder, torture and cannibalism are the exotic fare in this beautifully filmed but brutally uncompromising modern fable which has been interpreted as an allegory for Thatcherism. –IMDb
An avant-gardist who earned surprising access to the mainstream, Peter Greenaway is among the most ambitious and controversial filmmakers of his era. Trained as a painter and heavily influenced by theories of structural linguistics, ethnography, and philosophy, Greenaway’s films traversed often unprecedented ground, consistently exploring the boundaries of the medium by rejecting formal narrative structures in favor of awe-striking imagery, shifting meanings, and mercurial emotional tension; fascinated by formal symmetries and parallels, his material displayed an almost obsessive interest in list-making and cataloguing, earning equal notoriety for its provocative eroticism as well as its almost self-conscious pretentiousness. Born April 5, 1942, in Newport, Wales, Greenaway was raised primarily in nearby Chingford. After deciding at the age of 12 to become a painter, he entered the Walthamstow College of Art. By 1965, Greenaway had begun working as a film editor for the Central Office… read more
When this film finished I had goosebumps all over and all I could say was "wow" over and over again. Why it took me this long to watch this film is beyond me, I'm blown away by it and I think perhaps another watch would make it a 10. Michael Gambon was absolutely terrifying, and truly terrific in this film as was Helen Mirren. Greenaway's direction, the style of the film and the colour, Fantastic film.
Peter Greenaway seems to be more comfortable working as a film engineer rather than a film artist, the concept design is immaculate and his handling with actors and witty, cynic dialogue is top notch as well, but I think there is a difference between being uncompromising and artificial, and the fact that I had found this film so irresistably charming is entirely due to its virtuoso, robotic-like realization.
Note: The following review is republished (and slightly edited) from my blog, No More Popcorn.
Despite the fact that Netflix has a few issues they need to work out with their service (namely… read review
Peter Greenaway es un cineasta de imágenes y provocaciones. Recuerden su película Una zeta y dos ceros (A Zed & Two Noughts, 1986) con sus imágenes de putrefacción y sus reflexiones sobre lo efímero… read review
Hatred. Fear. Jealousy. Scorn. Anxiety.
The intellectual often feels these emotions when asked to be a participant of bourgeois society, for the shallow, commercial culture of the global order… read review
The Cook
He is the only good-natured character in the film. In his position as the head chef of the restaurant, he in essence becomes the screenwriter (or the narrative catalyst) of a film… read review