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

At Le Hollandais gourmet restaurant, every night is filled with opulence, decadence and gluttony. But when the cook, a thief, his wife and her lover all come together, they unleash a shocking torrent of sex, food, murder and revenge.

Director:

Peter Greenaway

Writer:

Peter Greenaway

Stars:

Richard Bohringer, Michael Gambon, Helen Mirren

7 wins & 11 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Richard Bohringer	...	Richard
Michael Gambon	...	Albert
Helen Mirren	...	Georgina
Alan Howard	...	Michael
Tim Roth	...	Mitchel
Ciarán Hinds	...	Cory (as Ciaran Hinds)
Gary Olsen	...	Spangler
Ewan Stewart	...	Harris
Roger Ashton-Griffiths	...	Turpin (as Roger Ashton Griffiths)
Ron Cook	...	Mews
Liz Smith	...	Grace
Emer Gillespie	...	Patricia
Janet Henfrey	...	Alice
Arnie Breeveld	...	Eden
Tony Alleff	...	Troy

Storyline

The wife of a barbaric crime boss engages in a secretive romance with a gentle bookseller between meals at her husband's restaurant. Food, colour coding, sex, murder, torture, and cannibalism are the exotic fare in this beautifully filmed, but brutally uncompromising modern fable.

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Plot Keywords:

adulterous wife | restaurant | allegory | gangster | food | 

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Taglines:

Lust...Murder...Dessert. Bon Appetit!

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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Certificate:

18+

Did You Know?

Trivia

One of several movies to feature Dame Helen Mirren nude or in a state of undress. Other notable ones are Age of Consent (1969), Savage Messiah (1972), Caligola (1979), Calendar Girls (2003) and Love Ranch (2010).

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Goofs

When Albert (Michael Gambon) goes into the ladies' toilet and starts throwing women out of the cubicles, the second one has, as you would expect, her underwear around her knees. But her skirt rides right up, revealing that she is still wearing her underwear, and that the ones below are a prop.

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Quotes

[Cut to opening scene, Albert's gang has Roy nude, smeared feces on his body, strapped to the ground, and Albert pisses on him]
Albert: Now, I'll give you a good dinner. You're gonna have a nice clean. Now, you behave yourself in the future and pay for what I ask you or next time I'm gonna make you eat your own shit

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Crazy Credits

Closing credits epilogue: "And a special thanks to those very many people who patiently & repeatedly performed as patients & nurses in the hospital ward, and as diners in the Hollandais Restaurant."

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Alternate Versions

An edited, R-rated version is available on video.

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Connections

Featured in Siskel & Ebert & the Movies: The Best Films of 1990 (1991)

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Soundtracks

Memorial
Written by Michael Nyman
Performed by The Michael Nyman Band

User Reviews

"Bon apetit, Albert, that's French"...

Revenge has never been served so deliciously and artistically. The visuals, the costumes, the set decoration, the changing colors cinematography and the soundtrack in this darker than dark comedy are stunning - the grandmasters were working on the movie. Among them Peter Greenaway, first and foremost a painter and a fine one, his brilliant cinematographer Sasha Verny, his astounding composer Michael Nyman who used for the movie the incredible "Memorial", and Jean-Paul Gaultier who designed the costumes. It also helped that Helen Mirren (as the long suffering wife, Georgina who in the end will serve her husband very well cooked revenge) and Michael Gambon (Albert- the thief, the gangster, the embodiment of pure evil and the owner of the swank restaurant) were two stars. Alan Howard plays a regular guest to whom Georgina is attracted to and carries on an affair with in the restaurant's restrooms and later in the back rooms, with the help of the Artist-cook (Richard Bohringer).

Every frame of each Greenaway's movie looks and feels like an exquisite painting. "A Zed and two Naughts" is Greenaway's homage and admiration for Vermeer. "The Draughtsman's Contract" quite openly refers to Caravaggio, Georges de la Tour and other French and Italian artists. "The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover", a fully realized vision of the director, a professional painter Peter Greenaway, is his tribute to the great Flemish and Dutch painters, Frans Hals, in particular. His large group portrait is constantly seen in the background of the hall in the London restaurant Le Hollandais that means "The Dutchman". I see Peter Greenaway as Hieronymus Bosch of the cinema, the creator of enormously beautiful, divine canvas depicting all horrors of hell that only humans can inflict on one another.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

Netherlands UK France

Language:

English French Dutch

Release Date:

13 October 1989 (UK)

Also Known As:

Le cuisinier, le voleur, sa femme et son amant

Filming Locations:

Goldcrest Elstree Studios, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$252,223, 8 April 1990

Gross USA:

$7,724,701

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$7,724,701

Company Credits

Production Co:

Allarts, Elsevier-Vendex Film Beheer, Allarts Cook

Technical Specs

Runtime:

124 min 98 min (R-rated)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Stereo (as Dolby Stereo in selected theatres)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1