The Cook, The Thief, His Wife And Her Lover [DVD] [1989]

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The greatest scene of the film is when the affair begins in the restroom, and Albert comes in. Standing outside the stall the intensity reaches an all time high. It's interesting that Albert behaves at his worst in restrooms after this.Â

As seen immediately, in the film, The Cook, The Theif, The Wife & Her Lover takes great advantage of the use of color. The last film I can think of that uses color so overwhelmingly is Bergmans Cries and Whispers, where he drowns the audience with red. What I found stunning in this film was that the scenes were so beautiful while all taking place in-doors, in fact the only ugly scenes were the outdoor ones, which took barely any screen time. Peter Greenaway has said that the Jacobean play 'Tis Pity She's a Whore provided him with the main template for his screenplay. [4] Music [ edit ]

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Helen Mirren as Georgina Spica, "The Wife": The sophisticated and battered wife of Albert Spica, from whom she has unsuccessfully tried to escape. Overcome with rage and grief, she begs Boarst to cook Michael's body, and he eventually complies. Together with all the people that Spica wronged throughout the film, Georgina confronts her husband finally at the restaurant and forces him at gunpoint to eat a mouthful of Michael's cooked body. Spica obeys, gagging. Georgina then shoots him in the head, calling him a cannibal. The central theme of food is a subject of earthly needs and desires, but also of excess and greed. Sensuality can be found in finely presented feasts, and sexual drives are aligned with the need to be fed an most basic urges, a thought so inelegantly expressed by Spica himself as he states “The naughty bits and the dirty bits are so close together that it just goes to show how eating and sex are related”. The affair and the meeting of sweating, naked flesh occurs in uncomfortable proximity to the food that will be used by the kitchen – the storeroom full of cured meats and bins of uncovered food is notable, and creates a feeling that the lovers themselves are, in this moment, the feast. Interlaced with images of knives reducing food to component parts, focus on the shapes of food that are meant to mimic genitals and set a threatening aura that highlights the danger and the urgency of their trysts. All the while, the rich and saturated use of color spills everywhere.

Immediately upon seeing the opulently prepared food, knowing it would be rendered into refuse as the story progressed, I was reminded of a long-time favorite of mine, the Peter Greenaway film, “ The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover ” (1989). As a person with a deeply ingrained appreciation for the pleasures of food, not only for nourishment and enjoyment of it, but as a rich and sumptuous visual metaphor, this movie fed my art-house cravings. Stunningly photographed by Sacha Vierny, this unnerving film takes place mostly in a cavernous French restaurant called Le Hollandais. The main room is dominated by a 1616 painting by the Dutch artist Frans Hals, A Banquet of the Officers of the St. George Civic Guard Company. The dignity of the officers as they sup is a stark contrast to the crudity of the hoods who chow down before it. The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover isn’t for all tastes, in both the literal and metaphorical senses of the term, as it’s filled with imagery both beautiful and unpleasant. Greenaway has a unique gift for making food appear both attractive and disgusting at the same time, and the film freely associates sex, death, and bodily functions—as Albert notes in his typically coarse fashion: “The pleasures are related because the naughty bits and the dirty bits are so close together that it just goes to show how eating and sex are related.” But for adventurous viewers, it’s an open text with limitless depths to explore. Shot entirely on Elstree’s stage six, the story unfolds during line evenings at an exclusive French restaurant where the Thief hangs out with his scummy gang of cut-throats, regaling them with his obscene vanities and diabolic table manners, and casually brutalising his long-suffering Wife (Mirren). Richard Boarst (played by Richard Bohringer) is the chef of Le Hollandais, a lavishly large and atmospheric restaurant where he must abide by the new owner's strict demands in preparation and presentation. Albert Spica (played by Michael Gambon) is the mobster who owns Le Hollandais. A sadistic and greasy figure who is bossy and cruel not just to the chef, but also to his underlings as well as his wife. His wife Georgina (played by Helen Mirren) is in an abusive relationship with her husband who constantly harasses her sexually, mentally, and physically in front of everyone though she is no strong enough to break away from him. Then there is Michael (played by Alan Howard), a bookshop owner who dines nightly at Le Hollandais while reading. It is at the restaurant that he and Georgina start a sexual relationship, but what will become of them once the sadistic husband finds out about their new relationship?His favorite directors include Martin Scorsese, Sergio Leone, Akira Kurosawa, Quentin Tarantino, Werner Herzog, John Woo, Bob Fosse, Fritz Lang, Guillermo del Toro, and Yoji Yamada. He's also very proud of the fact that he's seen every single Nicolas Cage movie released before 2022, even though doing so often felt like a tremendous waste of time. He's plagued by the question of whether or not The Room is genuinely terrible or some kind of accidental masterpiece, and has been for more than 12 years (and a similar number of viewings).

And as mentioned before, it's that odd, twisted humanity that makes Albert Spica feel, in a way, genuine. Without that wrinkle to the character, there is a chance that the film's principal antagonist would feel silly, and perhaps less like a genuine threat. It's his credible evilness and capacity to continue doing harm that makes him so easy to root against, allowing the eventual revenge of his wife (the details of which are probably too disturbing to detail here... but also, it would be doing the film a disservice to discuss) to feel all the more satisfying. And, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, it's Michael Gambon who was essential in making this character work. Albert Spica would've been an immensely difficult character to play, and getting into the headspace of such a man (even a fictional man) would've likely been upsetting. It's a testament to Gambon's acting skills that he pulled it all off, and portrayed a film villain for the ages. The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover is a 1989 crime drama art film written and directed by Peter Greenaway, starring Richard Bohringer, Michael Gambon, Helen Mirren and Alan Howard in the title roles. An international co-production of the United Kingdom and France, the film's graphic violence and nude scenes, as well as its lavish cinematography and formalism, were noted at the time of its release. Audio is offered in English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio with optional English subtitles. This is the original theatrical Dolby Stereo matrixed four-channel mix, and it has a nice sense of spaciousness when decoded. The surrounds are primarily used for ambience, but they make the large spaces such as the kitchen feel truly cavernous—it’s still an immersive mix, even with limited directional effects. The dialogue is clear, and Michael Nyman’s classic score sounds superb.Greenaway has a love of criticisms of culture and societal structure. Spica is a cruel and distasteful vulgarian, created to be despised and destroyed. Georgina simply is a person who may have found the joys in pleasures of daily living – food in particular is a sustaining pleasure to her, and sex gives her some escape from the trauma of her marriage, yet it is fitting that she transforms into a being who brings forth justice in her revenge – we are grateful for her snapping point after witnessing such suffering. We recognize the rich table set before such metaphorical swine as Spica and his thrall as symbolic of those in power who revel in the spoils they steal from the commoner, while enjoying the debasement of those that they exploit and violate, laughing all the while. There is gratification in watching the corrupt be called to justice, and in watching their destruction. Truthfully, a part of each of us would likely gladly extract our pound of flesh from these monstrosities, given a chance, and reclaim some of what we have had stolen from us, while returning the gift of suffering such men in power dispense to all below their station, to remind us who is in charge.

Artist and filmmaker Peter Greenaway had made five feature length films and numerous shorts before "The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover" in 1989. Experimental in nature and far from being commercial or structurally traditional, Greenaway followed in the footsteps of abstract artists that challenged their artforms by introducing ideas what were not frequently explored. He had stated that most cinema has been a retelling of novels but in a visual medium, and that there was little to be excited about by its straightforward and linear structural state. His early features "The Draughtsman's Contract" (1982), "A Zed & Two Noughts" (1985), "The Belly of an Architect" (1987), and "Drowning by Numbers" (1988) were critical hits, with the last two nominated for the Palme d'or at the Cannes Film Festival and Greenaway winning the Best Artistic Contribution prize for "Drowning in Numbers" there. But this was only the beginning. "The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover" was bigger, bolder, more extravagant, more daring, and eventually more controversial than anything he had done on film up to that point. Richard Bohringer as Richard Boarst, "The Cook": The head chef of "Le Hollandais". He resents Albert Spica, who has taken control of the restaurant. Gold, Richard (21 March 1990). "For Peter Greenaway, gaining distribution in U.S. for 'Cook, Thief' a battle". Variety. p.7.

English gangster Albert Spica has taken over the high-class Le Hollandais restaurant, which is managed by French chef Richard Boarst. Spica makes nightly appearances at the restaurant with his retinue of thugs. His oafish behavior causes frequent confrontations with the staff and his own customers, whose patronage he loses but whose money he seems not to miss.