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

A feast for the eyes and a cracking story as well.

This is a film with a great deal if breadth. There is a literate quality to the film. One feels at times that one is walking through one of Europe's premier art museums such as the Uffizi Galleries in Firenze/Florence Italy, as you take in the visual style of the film. Stylistically however this is typical of all the numerous films of Director Peter Greenaway. Yet be warned that mixed in with the artistic high-mindedness there is the strong juxtaposition of utter degradation: in the form of violence, beatings, murders, persons smeared with filth, disgustingly putrid rotten food, and the most horrifying depiction of cannibalism you are likely to ever see. This film, appears newly made, although it was produced in the very late 1980's and is still fresh to the eyes - it has withstood the test of time. Indeed this film is timeless. This is the mist worthwhile film of your lifetime.