Capo
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Post by Capo on Jul 22, 2007 23:09:29 GMT
The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her LoverPeter Greenaway 1989 France / Netherlands / UK A vulgar thief dines every night with his vulturous cronies and beautiful wife at an elegant restaurant, but it all goes tits up when the wife has a fling with another diner.
A very entertaining film, an often vulgar film (it opens with a man having shit poured over him), an always witty film, and an extremely well-acted, -written and -scored film (Michael Nyman's music takes it to emotional heights it would otherwise struggle to reach). Gambon relishes in his role as the Frank Booth-like villain, Mirren is astonishingly sexy in her costume design. It's an unashamedly artificial affair, with costumes changing colour according to the room in which they're shot, and the lighting is excessive; the camera crabs from one location to the next with all the distanced strain of Godard ( La Chinoise and Weekend come to mind), at once flawless and demanding. Eroticism, food, violence and general vulgarities have never been blended with such an individualistic flair; and the first death in the film somehow, despite the self-consciousness and -reflexivity throughout, feels very (and tragically) real.
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