The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989)

Review:

I had never heard of this film until I happened upon a review of it by Roger Ebert. Usually trusting the famous critic, the enthusiastic review intrigued me enough to seek out the film. It also didn’t hurt that Helen Mirren (the Queen) and Michael Gambon (Dumbeldore) are the stars.

“The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover” tells the tale of these four characters. Each night, Albert the Thief (Michael Gambon) and his Wife Georgina (Helen Mirren) eat at the same elegant restaurant with Albert’s cronies and yes men. They are served exquisite French food by Richard the Cook (Richard Bohringer), a man quietly reserved and compassionate. On one particular evening Georgina spots a stranger reading a book quietly at a table. This is Michael (Alan Howard) and he will soon become her lover.

Based on this set up alone it sounds like innumerable other films. We already know what is to happen: the terrible husband will find out about the affair and all hell will break lose and lives will almost certainly be lost. Essentially, this is what happens. But the way in which it happens makes this movie like no other movie I have ever seen – both in its brilliant visuals and in its shear audacity.

The visuals make “The Cook” et al. a feast for the eyes. Director and Writer Peter Greenaway employs the camera with such repetitive and strategic precision that when the camera behaves in a certain way, for instance making a long dolly from the interior of the restaurant into the kitchen, a particular sense of horror descends upon the viewer (I’ll get to the horror in a moment). The camera is moving along willingly with the action, but you’re not sure you want to go with it.

The set pieces are masterful and otherworldly. Most of the film takes place at the restaurant – in the dining hall, the kitchen, the bathroom, and parking lot. Each area has a specific color that dominates the scene. The dining hall is red to represent danger, the kitchen is green to represent safety and so on and so forth. So like the movements of the camera, the colors also cue the audience into how it should be feeling at a particular moment. Nothing good ever happens in the dining room or the parking lot and you learn this very quickly.

Now, on to the horror and audacity of “The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover:” I cannot recall a film viewing experience when my mouth has been more agape for a longer period of time. Albert the Thief is perhaps the most heinous villain I have ever seen in a motion picture. Nothing he does has even a morsel of kindness in it. He is violent, pig headed, rude and ignorant and he is the centerpiece of this film. From beginning to end, there is hardly one act of depravity that he does not commit – including cannibalism and torturing a child. This really is one of the most horrific movies I have ever seen.

And yet…

And yet this is one of the most beautiful films I have ever seen also. It is surely haunting and I will never be able to erase some of the images it branded in my head, but it is still such a gorgeous film. When I watched it, I kept thinking Quentin Tarantino and Wes Anderson must both have seen this movie and taken it to heart.

I realize, I have not mentioned much about the Cook and how he relates to the lover’s triangle. About him I will say this – without the Cook, this movie would be an exercise in depicting cruelty in a beautiful way. The Cook is the spirit of compassion and mercy. Without him and his crucial decisions throughout the film, there would be nothing to save and the Thief would reign supreme.

Rating:

On a scale of one to Casablanca, this film is a “Gosford Park” (2002)

Rationalization:

This film creates such a definitive world in its two hour span. It is clearly not based in the real world, and yet somehow you end up believing in it and fearing it just like it was the real world.“The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover” is an extraordinary example of completely enthralling cinema. If you fall in its trance, no matter how much you want to turn away, you can not. It is too thought provoking and horrifying. You will get lost in this world and leave unsettled. Good luck to those who get through it.

I just realized both “The Cook” and “Gosford Park” have Michael Gambon as stars. Who knew?