The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover

just in case you haven’t had much gastronomic trauma recently, be sure to pick this film up. i went to see this in an art house cine here in barcelona. i knew that i had heard of this peter greenway film from somewhere but couldn’t quite place it.

the movie is set in a restaurant called la hollandis and follows the culinary and sexual adventures of - geez - what do you think? the cook, the thief, his wife and her lover. the entire movie is very dimly lit and deals with a deep intertwining of love, sex, violence, food, and revenge. from the opening scenes of a man being covered in dog shit and then pissed on to the finale that made my stomach turn, i was captivated by this movie. i can’t venture to say that i enjoyed it. i can venture to say that i was disturbed and at times very amused by it.

other things of note in this film are the performance by spica (michael gambon) and an appearance of my fav, tim roth. costume and set design are utterly flawless (hint: jean paul gaultier designed the costumes).

so my suggestion would be that if you can stomach lots of violence (including a fork in the cheek), cannibalism, rotting pigs heads, and prairie oysters - then you should see this movie. but, do me a favour, and don’t take anyone of romantic interest to this film if you plan on eating afterwards…