X
- 1990
- R
- Miramax
- 2 h 4 m
- 1990
- R
- Miramax
- 2 h 4 m
Summary The wife of an abusive criminal finds solace in the arms of a kind regular guest in her husband's restaurant.
Directed By: Peter Greenaway
Written By: Peter Greenaway
- 1990
- R
- Miramax
- 2 h 4 m
- 1990
- R
- Miramax
- 2 h 4 m
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover
62
7.9
Summary The wife of an abusive criminal finds solace in the arms of a kind regular guest in her husband's restaurant.
Directed By: Peter Greenaway
Written By: Peter Greenaway
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 23 Critic Reviews
62
57% Positive
13 Reviews
13 Reviews
30% Mixed
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
13% Negative
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 23 Critic Reviews
62
57% Positive
13 Reviews
13 Reviews
30% Mixed
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
13% Negative
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
So much for caveats. What's more important is that "The Cook" is a bracingly intelligent and often beautiful work -- a chilling black comedy that tells its heartless story in a virtuoso style marked by visual elegance and dark, ironic wit. Anyone able to stomach its graphic imagery will find it an unsettling but unforgettable movie. [6 Apr 1990, p.E3]
Greenaway keeps his wits about him. His vision of human evil is as droll as it is unrelenting. Trained as a painter, he can't help making this particular hell look gorgeous. "The Cook, the Thief, etc." is, paradoxically, a beautiful, drily witty film about monstrous vulgarity and ugliness. [6 Apr 1990, p.22]
Here’s a film that opens with a man being smeared in excrement and closes with an even more horrifying act of revenge, yet it’s fevered, passionate, and occasionally erotic, at least by Greenaway standards. It’s a film awash in the color red, full of blood, sex, and rage, the rare Greenaway that feels alive as more than a formal or semiotic exercise. You may even catch him storytelling here and there.
For everyone? Clearly not. Greenaway is an acquired taste. Once acquired, he's a pure original, not to be forgotten. X marks the spot. [6 Apr 1990, p.G5]
Greenaway's regard is certainly unblinking, though it's hard to see where the seriousness and compassion come in. The thematic oppositions are primitive and are not fleshed out by the characters, who remain flat and puppetlike. [6 Apr 1990, p.G2]
Despite the lofty tone of his literary, artistic and metaphysical allusions, Greenaway is working the same streets of human depravity as John Waters; he's just more pretentious about it. At best, Greenaway's film is a provocative and diabolically funny foray into the roots of passion and cruelty. At worst, the symbolic bric-a-brac gets so thick you lose sight of the characters.
After the film's first few minutes I watched, neither entertained nor illuminated, with something close to total indifference... (Greenaway's) extravagances and attacks on taste seem less like the bravery of the courageous artist than the empty desperation of a charlatan.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 14 User Ratings
7.9
79% Positive
11 Ratings
11 Ratings
21% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 14 User Ratings
7.9
79% Positive
11 Ratings
11 Ratings
21% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.
Production Company
Allarts,
Elsevier-Vendex Film Beheer,
Allarts Cook,
Erato Films,
Film Inc.
Release Date Apr 6, 1990
Duration 2 h 4 m
Rating R
Tagline Greenaway's recipe of food and sex mixed with art is both delicious and wonderfully wicked.
Awards
Sitges - Catalonian International Film Festival
• 4 Wins & 5 Nominations
20/20 Awards
• 1 Win & 5 Nominations
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
