The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover
(A- or 3.5/4 stars)
'The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover' (written/directed by Peter Greenway) takes place inside the fine French restaurant, Le Hollandais. The head chef, Richard (Richard Bohringer), is a fantastic cook who cares about how his food looks as much as how it tastes. The restaurant he cooks at is Le Hollandais. Le Hollandais' owner, an uncouth thief/gang leader named Albert (Michael Gambon), visits his restaurants every night accompanied by his submissive, neglected wife, Georgina (Helen Mirren), and his ... cough, cough ... associates (or I should say, his murderous cronies). Having grown tired of her sadistic, egomaniacal husband - with all of his boorish, absurd discourses about any subject that flies out of his mouth - Georgina finds herself a lover, Michael (Alan Howard) & makes passionate love to him in Le Hollandais' secret places (bathroom, kitchen, closets) with the silent permission of Richard, the chef. Albert finds out, and craziness ensues.
Okay, 'TCTTHW&HL' is one sick movie; holding an incredibly ugly view of mankind. It's rated NC-17 (originally, an X). It's deranged. It's grotesque. But it's also absorbing in a can't-turn-your-head-from-the-trainwreck way. The visuals are exceptional. Thematically, it offers a satirical examination on excess, bad taste, greed, adultery, jealousy, love, & death --- all involving sex & food. The script is well-written; with dark humor & irony everywhere. And the acting is great.
Michael Gambon towers over the proceedings as one of the most vile, overbearing, piggish, ugliest of male leads in any film I've seen. His lines of dialogue are controversial, over-the-top, & delivered with relish. Watching Gambon's tour de force is one of the film's greatest peculiarities. Helen Mirren is fascinating, as well. She barely speaks for the 1st 30 minutes or so; using her facial expressions & voluptuous body to do all the acting. She's often naked, & incredibly sexy. Yet, once she opens her mouth, you realize that her verbal deliveries are just as powerful. And there's a monologue she delivers while lying down & crying (late in the film) that both explains more about the context of her character, as well as just riveting us. And the 3rd main role is that of Michael, played by Alan Howard. Like Mirren, he doesn't speak for a while (the 1st 52 minutes!), but the lovemaking scenes btwn. him & Mirren are erotic, yet poignant.
Sascha Vierny's cinematography & Jan Roelf's set designs are aces. The camera often goes in long takes & spans horizontally; shifting through the Le Hollandais restaurant. Speaking of which - what a wondrous place. The main dining room is vast, haunting, & showered in reds. The dense kitchen area is all in shades of green. The main bathroom (which plays a large part in the film ... for its carnal filth) is white with splashes of pink. And the outdoor scenes are all in cool blue. It's all so visually arresting; with the colors corresponding to the events at hand, as well as your interpretation of the mindset of various characters. As for Jean-Paul Gaultier's gaudily stylized costumes ... they change color every time a character moves from one spot to the next (kitchen-to-dining room, etc.) -- loved that; SO unique. And I was hypnotized by Michael Nyman's insistent, pulsating, operatic-styled musical score; which can't escape my mind no matter how hard I try.
There are times when Greenaway's provocative narrative/thematic/literal vision(s) become almost too graphic - going beyond dirt, filth, sex, violence, food, & all of that intertwined. Peter Greenaway obviously wants to show us how 2 of life's most enticing pleasures (sex & eating) can be wholesome, therapeutic, nourishing, and yet, with the wrong people/situations ... sex & eating can be horrific, deadly & cannibalistic (look out for several key scenes of this). I also think that the script had some slow/tangential spots. You know, 'TCTTHW&HL' is not a movie for everybody. But overall, this is an incredible film; telling a revenge tale that contains strong elements of the bizarre, the cerebral, the emotional & the visuals ... I mean, what more could you want? And my final praise of the movie is that the last 5 minutes are wholly satisfying. Revenge is served in a wonderfully delicious {ew, gulp} way.
Okay, 'TCTTHW&HL' is one sick movie; holding an incredibly ugly view of mankind. It's rated NC-17 (originally, an X). It's deranged. It's grotesque. But it's also absorbing in a can't-turn-your-head-from-the-trainwreck way. The visuals are exceptional. Thematically, it offers a satirical examination on excess, bad taste, greed, adultery, jealousy, love, & death --- all involving sex & food. The script is well-written; with dark humor & irony everywhere. And the acting is great.
Michael Gambon towers over the proceedings as one of the most vile, overbearing, piggish, ugliest of male leads in any film I've seen. His lines of dialogue are controversial, over-the-top, & delivered with relish. Watching Gambon's tour de force is one of the film's greatest peculiarities. Helen Mirren is fascinating, as well. She barely speaks for the 1st 30 minutes or so; using her facial expressions & voluptuous body to do all the acting. She's often naked, & incredibly sexy. Yet, once she opens her mouth, you realize that her verbal deliveries are just as powerful. And there's a monologue she delivers while lying down & crying (late in the film) that both explains more about the context of her character, as well as just riveting us. And the 3rd main role is that of Michael, played by Alan Howard. Like Mirren, he doesn't speak for a while (the 1st 52 minutes!), but the lovemaking scenes btwn. him & Mirren are erotic, yet poignant.
Sascha Vierny's cinematography & Jan Roelf's set designs are aces. The camera often goes in long takes & spans horizontally; shifting through the Le Hollandais restaurant. Speaking of which - what a wondrous place. The main dining room is vast, haunting, & showered in reds. The dense kitchen area is all in shades of green. The main bathroom (which plays a large part in the film ... for its carnal filth) is white with splashes of pink. And the outdoor scenes are all in cool blue. It's all so visually arresting; with the colors corresponding to the events at hand, as well as your interpretation of the mindset of various characters. As for Jean-Paul Gaultier's gaudily stylized costumes ... they change color every time a character moves from one spot to the next (kitchen-to-dining room, etc.) -- loved that; SO unique. And I was hypnotized by Michael Nyman's insistent, pulsating, operatic-styled musical score; which can't escape my mind no matter how hard I try.
There are times when Greenaway's provocative narrative/thematic/literal vision(s) become almost too graphic - going beyond dirt, filth, sex, violence, food, & all of that intertwined. Peter Greenaway obviously wants to show us how 2 of life's most enticing pleasures (sex & eating) can be wholesome, therapeutic, nourishing, and yet, with the wrong people/situations ... sex & eating can be horrific, deadly & cannibalistic (look out for several key scenes of this). I also think that the script had some slow/tangential spots. You know, 'TCTTHW&HL' is not a movie for everybody. But overall, this is an incredible film; telling a revenge tale that contains strong elements of the bizarre, the cerebral, the emotional & the visuals ... I mean, what more could you want? And my final praise of the movie is that the last 5 minutes are wholly satisfying. Revenge is served in a wonderfully delicious {ew, gulp} way.