The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover 1989

Fig 1: Movie Poster

The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover directed by Peter Greenaway is the most disturbing film I have ever seen, it is up there with slavery films on a disgust/disturbing level if not higher. The film starts with a man on the floor beaten up, naked, bleeding, and force fed dog excrement immediately you’re horrified at this thuggish behaviour and group bullying, two vs one is hard to watch but five on one plus dogs - it’s horrible. Greenaway also treats viewers to a lovely display of animal carcasses that the dogs rip up and this is just the first scene! But it’s only the first scene by the end you leave the screen very disturbed and it stays with you, it’s not just watch and go, this film has effects on you depending how you react to vultures the same species as you. “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” (Mount, 2000). 

The plot is very repetitive every night at the restaurant watching the thief (Michael Gambon) and his group of thugs ruin everyone’s night, disrespecting the chef, abusing his wife, belittling his associates, yelling and wrecking the place. His wife (Helen Mirren) has an affair with fellow restaurant regular Michael (Alan Howard) in parts of the hotel, Greenaway isn’t shy with his camera direction or characters during sex and violent horrific scenes. This affair, that’s supposed to be her lovely escape from her violent husband, “Greenaway gives a nightmare tinge to … by using a different colour scheme for every locale - red for the dining room, white for the toilets - and having the colour of the character's costumes change as they walk from one to another.” (Ebert, 1999) I believe he’s done this to give suggest the idea of camouflage and that is counter acted by the thief finding his wife (see figure 2) and assaulting her - she is never safe and the audience can sympathise greatly. So when wife Georgina flees with her lover Michael we know it won’t be long before Albert and his gang hunt them down and force feeds buttons down the young delivery boy’s throat in an attempt to find out the delivery address. Georgina goes to visit the boy in hospital meanwhile the thugs get a hold of the lover and force book pages from the book he always read in the restaurant down his throat with a stake of some sort, a cruel, slow, torturous, unjust murder.

Fig 2: White Bathroom

The thief, his wife and her lover all have dominating roles which make them worthy to be in the title, however the cook has great significance but a smaller role compared and yet he comes first in the title, “the cook's role is the weak spot in the script. Though he is meant to function as a chorus and witness, it is Paul Russell as the boy - part Shakespearean, part messenger from Godot - who fulfills that role best.” (James, 2016).

Just when you think you’ve seen it all: the tortures, group gang up, animal corpses, child abuse, force feeding, sexual assault, bullying, murder, nudity, when you think you’re at the worst part - the point of no return along comes cannibalism, Georgina begs the chef to cook her dead lover so she can force feed it to her husband, he agrees, she feeds it to him and shoots him in the head. You’d think by the end of the film you’d be somewhat relieved that Albert is dead but no… More like traumatised. Worst 120 minutes of life spent watching this film. The lighting in this final scene is dominated by the red and little lighting to strengthen the darkness, it adds uncertainty and danger. (See fig 3).

Fig 3: Final Scene

Bibliography

Ebert, R. (1999) The cook, the thief, his wife, and her lover movie review (1999). At: http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-cook-the-thief-his-wife-and-her-lover-1999 (Accessed on 16 December 2016)

James, C. (1990) Movie review - - review/film; Peter Greenaway’s elegant and brutal ‘cook’. At: http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9C0CE4DE1F3DF935A35757C0A966958260 (Accessed on 16 December 2016)

Mount, J. (2000) The cook the thief his wife and her lover. At: http://www.empireonline.com/movies/cook-thief-wife-lover/review/ (Accessed on 16 December 2016)

Illustration List

Figure 1: The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover. (1989) [Poster]. (Accessed on 16 December 2016)

Figure 2: White Bathroom At: http://www.mondo-digital.com/cookthief.html (Accessed on 16 December 2016)

Figure 3: Final Scene At: https://www.jonathanrosenbaum.net/1990/04/art-film-by-numbers/ (Accessed on 16 December 2016)