Movie Review: The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover

Georgina is a beaten down woman. Day after day she accompanies her crass thug of a husband to the restaurant he owns and sits silently as he guffaws his way through course after course of expertly prepared food. When Georgina catches the eye of a regular patron and begins an affair, she sets in motion a series of horrifying events that progress to the ultimate revenge.

This is the very, very basic plot of "The Cook, the Thief, his Wife and her Lover", a movie by Peter Greenaway. Michael Gambon and Helen Mirren both do excellent work as Albert and Georgina, the titular thief and wife. Yet a plot like this, which would normally be standard far on the Lifetime Channel, is treated to such lavish cinematography, color, and imagery that it is elevated to a beautiful work of art.

Film auteurs are those directors who brand their work with signature styling and cram it full of symbolism. Some, like David Lynch, leave you perplexed. Alfred Hitchcock, the godfather of auteur, was a master at thrilling the audience with a basic story yet layering it with complex meaning. And others like Quentin Tarantino prefer to focus on style and cult classic appeal. "The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover" is a film that manages to achieve all of the above, in a fairly tight 95 minutes (128 for the uncut version). Scenes are suffused with varying colors depending on location and symbolic meaning. The score works wonderfully as an element that heightens the tension without ever eclipsing it. And the rest? Well, it's better to just watch it and find out for yourself. It's not for the faint of heart - scenes contain graphic violence, nudity, foul language, and the ending will definitely shock you and stay with you a long time. But if that doesn't faze you, then you will finish your viewing experience with a wholly different view of what a good film should be.

Buy "The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover" here:

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