The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover | Richard Bohringer, Michael Gambon

The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover | Richard Bohringer, Michael Gambon | intriguing.. but brace yourself.. or laugh a little.

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The Cook, The Thie...

	The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover Richard Bohringer, Michael Gambon Starz / Anchor Bay, 2001 average customer review:based on 111 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

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

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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!

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.

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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.

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.

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