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

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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 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.

Groves, Don (13 December 1989). " 'Future II' hot, 'Oliver & Co.' surges in Europe". Variety. p.40.

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It’s not surprising that Georgina takes a lover, a bookish sort named Michael (Alan Howard) who often dines alone at the restaurant. Before long, Georgina and Michael are sneaking off to toilets and pantries for sex while Albert gorges on food. The restaurant’s cook (Richard Bohringer) helps the lovers. Later, when Albert learns of their deception, he exacts a hideous revenge. And then Georgina goes him one better with a unique last supper. I’ll spare you the details, but those with sensitive stomachs may bolt for the exits. The Cook the Thief His Wife & Her Lover" is one of the most grotesque, eschatological, bizarre and weird films that I have ever seen. But it is also absolutely original and mesmerizing, with intense use of colors, and with the contrast of vulgarity and art. Food, eschatology, sex, cruelty, torture, cannibalism and revenge are entwined along 124 minutes running time. The result is not pleasant and only specific audiences will appreciate this film. Last time I had seen this film was on 08 September 2000 on VHS. My vote is eight. Georgina discovers that Albert has murdered Michael. She goes to Richard and asks him to cook Michael and serve his body to Albert. Richard is initially reluctant but Georgina is able to convince him, considering Albert's deplorable treatment of everyone around him, including herself and Richard. It comes as no surprise to learn that it took director Peter Greenaway a very long time to find a film company that would consider his script for more than 30 seconds, since the film opens with a close-up of dogs gorging on hunks of bloody carcass and then pans to the Thief (Gambon) force-feeding dogshit to a naked man. The cold artiness of Greenaway’s previous films (The Draughtsman’s Contract, The Belly Of An Architect) is thoroughly subordinated here. 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.

Albert comes to the restaurant each night and holds court with his entourage and Georgina, while criticizing Richard's menu choices. Georgina notices a quiet regular customer, Michael, who is always reading. The two begin a clandestine affair with most encounters occurring in the restaurant itself. Georgina believes that if she engages in her affair in Albert's place of business, it will be easier to keep hidden from her husband. 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?

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. The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover Movie Review (1999)". Roger Ebert. 1 January 1999 . Retrieved 30 January 2016. 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 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. The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (18)". British Board of Film Classification. 14 September 1989 . Retrieved 27 September 2013. 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. Paul Russell as Pup, a kitchen boy who brings food to Georgina and Michael while they are in hiding at Michael's bookshop. He is a boy soprano who sings while washing dishes.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. Jean-Paul Gaultier designed the costumes. Italian chef Giorgio Locatelli prepared the food, used as props.