The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover

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Nicholas F Based on play… excellent set design, performances. Heavy with symbolism. Thought provoking and at times shocking. Proper cinematic transition from state to screen. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 12/09/23 Full Review Jacob B Greenaway’s film that is akin to watching a classic oil painting come alive. His absolute best! Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/04/25 Full Review Sam N 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. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/09/25 Full Review DanTheMan 2 Sick, sexy and rude in equal provocative proportions, The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover features one of the most startling depictions of intellectual cruelty ever committed to film. It is a highly stylised and elegant Jacobean revenge tale over adultery and jealousy that rolls against the taste buds like a mouth full of hot pepper, built upon several hundred years of literary tradition and one that director Peter Greenaway makes effortlessly engaging. His view of mankind is ugly, but his film is utterly insane in terms of both his direction and its visual design, the interconnected sets are astounding with the camera tracking expertly between them all almost as if we the audience are viewing a highly elaborate play or painting come to life. Although I wasn't big on the music, I cannot for the life of me fault the performances, Gambon especially is stupendous, a roaring hound from hell. He commits acts of intolerable cruelty against anyone who stands in his way, he is the Terror during the French Revolution, the Dictator from every country who has had one who will torture those who give even a slight resistance. And once Georgina's and Michael's clandestine affair is brought to light, needless to say, all hell breaks loose and Greenway sets the stage for his horrific, stomach-turning denouement. Mirren is his match in a performance of mounting fervour, deep suffering and infinite patience, and that makes her all the more dangerous. That she has to go through so much pain and humiliation to make a 180-degree turn to a cold, ruthless avenger makes her the ultimate heroine. Intricately assembled, viscerally provocative tract on consumerism gone full and grisly circle, The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover is a brutal, evocative and visually radiant masterwork, I can't wait to see more of what Greenway has to offer. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 11/26/24 Full Review Audience Member Peter Greenaway directed this film through the eyes of a true artist. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 09/23/24 Full Review g j Even the memorable final act can't redeem such a boring and overbloated load of twaddle. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/25/24 Full Review Read all reviews

The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover

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