A Zed & Two Noughts (1986)

Oliver Deuce, a successful doctor, is shattered when his wife is killed in a freak car accident involving the car being driven by Alba Bewick colliding with a very large rare bird. His twin... See full summary »

Director:

Peter Greenaway

Writer:

Peter Greenaway

Stars:

Andréa Ferréol, Brian Deacon, Eric Deacon

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Andréa Ferréol	...	Alba Bewick
Brian Deacon	...	Oswald Deuce
Eric Deacon	...	Oliver Deuce
Frances Barber	...	Venus de Milo
Joss Ackland	...	Van Hoyten
Jim Davidson	...	Joshua Plate
Agnès Brulet	...	Beta Bewick
Guusje van Tilborgh	...	Caterina Bolnes
Gerard Thoolen	...	Van Meegeren
Ken Campbell	...	Stephen Pipe
Wolf Kahler	...	Felipe Arc-en-Ciel
Geoffrey Palmer	...	Fallast
David Attenborough	...	Documentary Narrator (voice)

Storyline

Oliver Deuce, a successful doctor, is shattered when his wife is killed in a freak car accident involving the car being driven by Alba Bewick colliding with a very large rare bird. His twin brother Oswald is researching how carcasses decay at the local zoo. Alba survives the accident although she loses one leg, and her sinister physician eventually removes the other 'because it looked so sad all alone'. Oswald and Oliver become involved in a menage a trois with Alba, and uncover very dubious trafficking in zoo property. But ultimately their only goal is to try and understand their mortal condition.

---

Plot Keywords:

decay | grief | leg | twin | animal | 

---

Genres:

Comedy | Drama

---

Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

UK Netherlands

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 May 1990 (USA)

Also Known As:

Zoo

Filming Locations:

Rotterdam Zoo, Rotterdam, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands

Company Credits

Production Co:

British Film Institute (BFI), Allarts Enterprises, Artificial Eye

Technical Specs

Runtime:

115 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Early in the movie, we are shown a front-page newspaper article about the deaths of the protagonists' wives. This front page also contains sidebar articles detailing events from two of director Peter Greenaway's subsequent films, The Belly of an Architect (the article headlined "Architect Dies") and Drowning by Numbers (the article headlined "A Hot Bath Heart Attack").

---

Quotes

Alba Bewick: In the land of the legless the one-legged woman is queen.

---

Connections

Referenced in The Exploding Girl (2009)

---

Soundtracks

"An Elephant Never Forgets"
Performed by The BBC Dance Orchestra
Directed by Henry Hall
Courtesy of EMI MUSIC PUBLISHING LTD and EMI RECORDS LTD

User Reviews

Obsession with symmetry

ZOO is a film based upon the symmetry involved in nature. Two brothers (born as Siamese twins now separated) both lose their wives in a car crash caused by a pregnant swan flying into their car. It turns out that both women were expecting. The two brothers both mourn the passing of their wives and unborn children and become increasing obsessed with life and death, particularly the transition between the two states. The Brothers happen to both work in a zoo as vets and use the zoos equipment in ever more bizarre experiments to observe the process of decay via time lapse photography (the results of which are shown frequently throughout the movie).

The film progresses via a series of well thought out scenes, the visual content of which are more important than either the action or the plot. Greenway continues to explore the necessity of symmetry in nature and also its artistic merit. This however, is a subterfuge for the real meaning of the film, which is the realization of man that he lives alone in a Godless and empty universe where life and both its beginning and ending seem purposeless.

A visual feast but a little pretentious.a bit like this message really.