Cheap The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (Video) (Richard Bohringer, Michael Gambon, Helen Mirren) (Peter Greenaway) Price

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Customer Reviews of The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover

Like a Kick in the Gut
If this film was a conscious allegory about Margaret Thatcher's England (about the intellectuals & the public going to sleep and all that), it equally well applies to present-day US. Stripped of that possible meaning, it's simply a savage exercise in the trashing of the sensibilities of the art-film audience in the most visceral way possible. Supposedly, Greenaway wondered what it would be like to present a modern-day Jacobean revenge play, but it seems more a movie by a man who was at war with his own sensibilities, as if by doing violence to them he was trying to body-slam both high-society pretentiousness (symbolized here by the obsession with fine food) and have his revenge against those who would pretend to such a station (Albert Spica, the horrendous restauranteur-thief). The beautiful, color-coded images and tableaux, the over-the-top costumes and relentlessly driving Nyman music are entirely overturned by the coarse/eloquent dialogue and action (like just about every Greenaway film). It's a movie whose content attacks its form.

But the acting is great. Gambon's Albert Spica is one of the most memorable villains in the movies--the brutal boor. You flinch with apprehension every time the scene switches back to him (although he's onscreen most of the time). You don't know what outrageously offensive thing he'll say next--except that it will be outrageous and offensive. His character is one-dimensional, and so repellent that you eventually try to turn off what he's saying, but this is on purpose. He's one of those people who thinks he can buy or bully his way into respectability and high society because, as Richard the Cook says, "No one else will have you, Mister Spica." So he pillages those in his own restaurant. When his long-suffering wife rebels and has an affair with a bookish man, and Spica takes his revenge on her, he then gets what he deserves and it's the most stomach-turning ending in a movie you will ever see (no wonder NC-17 was practically invented for Greenaway). But it is at once fitting, terrifying, and clever. This movie took sheer guts to make at every stage, but still isn't as disturbing as Greenaway's "The Baby of Macon" which couldn't even find distribution in the US.

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Intelligent, evocative cinematography
This movie is art on film. The use of color in both setting and costume/dress are really cool. The character Georgina's dress changes from red to white in the blink of an eye, as she passes from one room to the next, seamlessly. The director is able to convey the feeling of terror and compounding tension with each act.
Some might be offended by some of the nudity and sexuality in the film, but those who are probably aren't the type to appreciate artistic film. And there isn't enough of either to please the pornographic crowd that tries to justify nudies with a vague "artistic" claim.
The film contains not so much sexuality as it does sensuality, as the heroine Georgina is desperate to bond with another human at any level, after having to endure the monstrous, inhumane treatment of her husband/jailer.
The chef (cook) provides a bridge among the other 3 mains, as indeed his restaurant is the stage for most of the film. He is the stoic voice of reason in a deplorable situation.
I have not seen any of Greenaway's other films, but have meant to do so after first seeing this in the late 80's. His use of imagery is, for me, on a par with Terrence Malick.

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Great Film; has it aged well?
Remember seeing this film when it first came out and loving every aspect about it - from the artistic direction, sets, costumes, music to the story line. Now, more than ten years later, after watching the DVD, I've noticed that the movie isn't as shocking as it was the first time around. I still wish the DVD version had subtitles in order to fully understand the thick, heavy British accent. Still, the movie can be enjoyed without even understanding the dialogue - almost as if it were a Silent movie.
And after ten years the only thing about the movie that looks aged are the trendy costumes that Gaultier designed.
The film's visual imagery continues to be its strongest asset with allusions to the Flemish and Spanish Masters of the Baroque Era