Delicious!
- The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover review by DW
An entertaining and darkly comic tale of revenge and cuisine.Difficult to review (without giving away plot spoilers) but if your looking for a film that blends great performances,Greek tragedy,wonderful cinematography with a nice helping of sex and food then look no further!
2 out of 2 members found this review helpful.
A wild, grotesque ride!
- The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover review by griggs
A wild, grotesque ride bursting with style and smarts. Michael Gambon is outrageously incredible, devouring every scene. Not for the faint-hearted, but impossible to look away—brilliantly mad and utterly unforgettable.
1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.
A feast for the senses
- The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover review by TDM
Is this film a horror? A satire? Art house junk making an effort to offend?
Maybe its all three - and your time is well spent letting this sink in and rewatching it (I haven't seen this film in a decade).
Set in four colour coded sets, filled with extravagant costumes via Gautier, the four titular characters take you on a run through comedy, disgust, passion, revenge and hatred.
And yes, this is certainly a film to watch with caution, it contains much that would offend and certainly in the modern times, comes with a trigger warning for abuse.
However the leads are exceptional; pulling off scenes which on paper may sound gratuitously over the top, with expertise and empathy.
You wont look at stellar talent like Mirren and Gambon especially, in the same way again.
I can absolutely understand why this film wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea; taboo subject matter, garish and unflinching visuals filmed in a highly saturated style, perhaps over pretentious, maybe a little dated now?
However, this is a daring, controversial classic starring some of the best talent of a generation and it is worth your time to watch it if you don't mind a little strong content and enjoy being challenged by cinema.
Just perhaps not over dinner....
0 out of 0 members found this review helpful.
Dark, Complex, Allegorical Crime Drama
- The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover review by GI
Thematically and visually complicated drama from director Peter Greenaway. This is an allegorical story that depicts the religious and political affect of totalitarianism and tyranny as depicted in the monstrous character of Albert played by Michael Gambon. Albert is a brutal, ignorant gangster who owns an opulent restaurant run by Richard led by French chef Richard (Richard Böhringer). Nightly Albert arrives with his entourage, terrorising staff and other customers as well as dishing out violence to those he takes a dislike to. His abused wife Georgina (Helen Mirren) accompanies him. But one night she spots another diner, the quiet book reading Michael (Alan Howard), and they soon begin an affair within the restaurant carefully protected by the chef and his staff. But when Albert finds out he responds with excessive and cruel violence but Georgina decides enough is enough. Clearly influenced by the Restoration period of English history this is film that uses colour and sumptuous sets to recreate the vision of corruption, tyranny and violence in contrast to love, intellectualism and humanity. There's a a lot to unravel here and whilst this is not an easy film it's certainly original and interesting with superb performances particularly from Gambon and Mirren. An arthouse crime drama that is unique and challenging.
0 out of 0 members found this review helpful.