The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (Greenaway, 1989): Prince Charles, 1pm
This 35mm presentation also screens on June 5th. Details here.
Chicago Reader review:
Peter Greenaway’s programmatic and schematic 1989 dark comedy about
conspicuous consumption isn’t very funny, although it offers a nearly
unbroken string of obnoxious verbal abuse—misogynist, racist,
scatological—from a crook (Michael Gambon) who runs an expensive gourmet
restaurant. Similarly, it isn’t very erotic, although it features a
great deal of nudity, and there’s also fair amount of unpleasant (if
otherwise affectless) violence. The film is mainly set in the canyonlike
rooms of the restaurant—immaculately lit and shot by master French
cinematographer Sacha Vierny in ‘Scope, with elaborate color coding,
extended tracking shots, and a striking neoclassic score by Michael
Nyman. Greenaway has suggested that this is supposed to be an attack on
Thatcher England, but while his film certainly has the nastiness of
satire, it doesn’t have much political focus; petty malice rather than
anger is the main bill of fare, with deep-dish notations about food and
sex thrown in for spice.
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Here (and above) is the trailer.
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