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Richard Bohringer, Michael Gambon, Helen Mirren, Alan Howard, Tim Roth ... see more see more... , Ciarán Hinds , Liz Smith , Gary Olsen , Ewan Stewart , Roger Ashton-Griffiths , Ron Cook , Tony Alleff , Arnie Breevelt , Nick Brozovic , Michael Clark , Ian Dury , Brenda Edwards , Hywel William Ellis , Tim Geary , Elmer Gillespie , Sophie Goodchild , Bob Goody , Janet Henfrey , Alex Kingston , Diane Langton , Gary Logan , Michael Maguire , Sue Maund , Pauline Mayer , John Mullis , Prudence Oliver , Roger Lloyd Pack , Karrie Pagano , Saffron Rainey , Peter Rush , Russell Paul Batty , Ian Sears , Ben Stoneham , Patricia Walters , Andy Wilson , Willie Ross , Alex Fraser

This is probably Peter Greenaway's most famous (or infamous) film, which first shocked audiences at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival and then on both sides of the Atlantic. A gang leader (Michael Gambon)... read more read more..., accompanied by his wife (Helen Mirren) and his associates, entertains himself every night in a fancy French restaurant that he has recently bought. Having tired of her sadistic, boorish husband, the wife finds herself a lover (Alan Howard) and makes love to him in the restaurant's coziest places with the silent permission of the cook (Richard Bohringer). Though less cerebral than Greenaway's other films, featuring deadly passions reminiscent of Jacobean revenge tragedies of the early 17th century, the picture still offers the director's usual ironic and paradoxical comments on the relations between eating and sex, love and death. The film is at once funny and horrific, and those who are not used to Greenaway's peculiar style might be even disgusted or shocked; however, one might mention Sacha Vierny's brilliant camerawork, Jean-Paul Gaultier's gaudily stylized costumes, and Michael Nyman's somber, pulsating music, which will haunt the viewer long after the film's end. ~ Yuri German, Rovi

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87% liked it

20,052 ratings

Critics

90% liked it

39 critics

NC-17, 2 hr. 3 min.

Directed by: Peter Greenaway

Release Date: September 11, 1989

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DVD Release Date: March 13, 2001

Stats: 1,286 reviews

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The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover Helen Mirren Helen Mirren the thief the cook, the thief, his wife The cook, the thief, his wife For my niece Pamela.
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Flixster Reviews (1,286)

  • cancercapricorn2002
    July 1, 2010
    cancercapricorn2002
    This is a film I hadn't watched in a while and I have to say after I pulled out my DVD and took a look at the film again it still hasn't lost any of its power. 'The Cook the Thief His Wife & Her Lover' is a film that doesn't fit into one certain genre, its part black comedy, par... read moret crime thriller, part horror, part film-noir. It is about about four twisted characters and a series of events that play out over an entire week. The owner of a French restaurant, Albert Spica(the thief), occupies it daily in order to stuff his face and beat on the innocent bystanders that surround him and cannot touch him. The owner of the restaurant(the cook) constantly watches in awe as Albert Spica humiliates everyone and talks and talks and talks, yet says nothing. The thief's wife, Georgina(his wife), is beaten, raped, and humiliated every day by the thief. She falls in love with another man at another table, Michael(her lover), and begins to have a rather passionate affair with him. What results is one of the most outrageous and bizarre films I've ever seen.

    Peter Greenaway has created a film that is unlike anything that has ever been made before. It is a film that is so disgusting and dark and tasteless, and yet so beautiful and intelligent and fresh that it must be seen to be believed. All of the performances are unforgettable, especially Helen Mirren as the wife, in a heart wrenching performance. Michael Gambon is absolutely terrifying as the thief. People can discuss the political implications that the film implies as well. I know some don't care about that stuff though but it does add a extra layer to the story.

    The attention to detail in the set-pieces depict the one pertaining to the outrageous and decadent nature of our time and the times in which we live where the thief consumes everything and is wasteful. As a result, there is a genuine sense of true horror throughout the film. The graphic violence and sex only add the the dark nature of the depiction of a world, long destroyed by the greedy punks that have overrun the world. The punks in this film are much older than the ones that are usually depicted, and we the post-apocalyptic world outside for many brief glimpses in which there is a lot of fog, smoke, grime, and filth. We really get a sense that the world that is depicted in this film was once truly beautiful and open to possibility, and the fact that it is a world that is long gone makes the film far more tragic than we would usually expect, especially one with such grand texture and such a dark sense of humor.

    This is the kind of film that reminds me that people in the film industry can still make intelligent, smart, and brilliant films without having to pile on the excess. The film works because it is not only effective, but it is also original storytelling. The film's use of it's set design only amplifies the way it is presents and gives the film even more meaning with it's vibrant colors and the way that each set piece in the entire film represents a different color of the rainbow. The music by Michael Nyman is simply one of the most chilling and unforgettable scores I've heard in a film. It only enhances the beauty of the film though.

    While the film is certainly not for everyone, especially children(although it won't be easy for them to view it given it's NC-17 rating), this film is for the kind of adult audience who likes to think and not just be shown something that will waste their time. For people who want to be challenged and shown a film that will make them think about the world in a different way than they normally do, To sum up here. It's a must see. I love it because it challenges me in a way a challenging film should. This is one of my personal favorite films.
  • SirPant
    October 1, 2009
    SirPant
    Visually, I loved it. Every frame was like a painting, like theatre on film. The story, a little contrived. I get the whole heaven and hell thing, the restaurant being the universe and all, I just didn't like it. The acting was superb, Gambon playing the Devil was inspired, it?s ... read morejust not that great to watch and ultimately, that's the point! I don't know, rating this one is hard, I'm a fan of Peter Greenaway but this isn't his best and nowhere near as clever as it thinks it is!
  • rubystevens
    October 26, 2008
    rubystevens
    a brutal gangster film with set design like northern rennaissance painting, costumes by gaultier and a wonderful score. great cast, especially michael gambon, who plays an absolute monster. tracing an explicit relationship between food, sex and death, it's not for the easily of... read morefended. this was my first greenaway and it was extraordinary
  • YosemiteSamFan
    August 18, 2007
    YosemiteSamFan
    Gruesome and offensive, set in a restaurant, enough to make one lose their appetite. A wealthy thief (Michael Gambon) plays a cruel boorish husband who delights in mentally torturing his wife (Helen Mirren). She has an affair with a librarian (Alen Howard). Chaos, murder and reve... read morenge ensue! It's an intelligent and interestingly shot film. Some of the scenes were intense. Very memorable characters and grotesque situations.
  • thefog1331
    June 12, 2007
    thefog1331
    Visually stunning and deeply disturbing. It's a powerful, sometimes (blackly) funny, drama about love, hate and restaurants. For fans of David Lynch and Jean-Pierre Jeunet. And one of the best scores of all time by Michael Nyman. Do NOT bother seeing it unless its the widescreen ... read moreunrated cut. Anything else is crap!
  • garyX
    May 31, 2007
    garyX
    Another visual feast by Peter Greenaway, with some gorgeous painterly direction and use of colour, complimented by sumptous costume design, sex, violence and revenge. Again, some may find it painfully pretentious but it is unforgettably powerful and contains far more in the way o... read moref coherent narrative than many of his other films.
  • YLOWBSTARDreturns
    April 6, 2007
    YLOWBSTARDreturns
    Disturbing and beautiful.
  • RCCLBC
    February 19, 2007
    RCCLBC
    Bizzare, erotic, funny, sad, disturbing and visually stunning. Also the film in which I first fell in love with Helen Mirren.
  • fb20312798
    June 25, 2010
    fb20312798
    So marvelously theatrical in its execution this is one of the most original films I have ever seen. Its also one of the most disturbing. The acting, the writing, the directing, the production design, and the score all meld to create a wonderfully terrifying piece of art.
  • Nutterjr
    January 28, 2008
    Nutterjr
    Wonderful art direction on a cruel movie about revenge...

View All The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover Reviews

Critic Reviews

Variety Staff
October 18, 2008
Variety Staff, Variety

Albert is one of the ugliest characters ever brought to the screen. Ignorant, over-bearing and violent, it's a gloriously rich performance by Gambon. Full Review

Caryn James
May 20, 2003
Caryn James, New York Times

A work so intelligent and powerful that it evokes our best emotions and least civil impulses, so esthetically brilliant that it expands the boundaries of film itself. Full Review

Roger Ebert
January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

It doesn't simply make a show of being uncompromising -- it is uncompromised in every single shot from beginning to end. Full Review

Hal Hinson
January 1, 2000
Hal Hinson, Washington Post

Greenaway, the bemused, coolly ironic truth-teller, has painted a cruel portrait for a cruel time. Full Review

James Berardinelli
January 1, 2000
James Berardinelli, ReelViews

Taboos? If director Peter Greenaway has any, you can't tell by this film. Full Review

Desson Thomson
January 1, 2000
Desson Thomson, Washington Post

Give or take another masterpiece coming down the pike, this intricately assembled, viscerally provocative tract on consumerism gone full and grisly circle, is without a doubt, the most accomplished, a... Full Review

Owen Gleiberman
September 11, 1989
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly

It's probably safe to say that the British director Peter Greenaway holds the ugliest view of mankind ever put forth by a maker of feature films. Full Review

Cole Smithey
August 13, 2011
Cole Smithey, ColeSmithey.com

[VIDEO ESSAY] ... a masterpiece of British cinema built on several hundred years of literary tradition. The film must be viewed more than once to begin to apprehend its strong and subtle layers of rop... Full Review

Emanuel Levy
April 23, 2011
Emanuel Levy, Screendaily

Take it or leave it: Greeanway's contemporary Jacobean drama, about greed, adultery and cannibalism, is brutal, provocative and visually brilliant. Full Review

Rob Nelson
September 1, 2009
Rob Nelson, City Pages, Minneapolis/St. Paul

Still the most lavishly offensive of Greenaway's films. Full Review

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

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Facts

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    • Georgina Spica the Wife: Georgina to her husband, Albert, 'Go on, Albert, Eat.'
    • Georgina Spica the Wife: I dont want to eat him Richard.
    • Georgina Spica the Wife: Yes! He's a man. He's Jewish and he's from Ethiopia!
    • Albert Spica the Thief: What?
    • Georgina Spica the Wife: His mother is a Roman Catholic, he's been imprisoned in South Africa, he's as black as the ace of spades and he probably drinks his own pee!
    • Georgina Spica the Wife: Try the cock, Albert. It's a delicacy. And you know where it's been.
    • Georgina Spica the Wife: What good are all these books? You can't eat them.
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The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover Trivia

The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & H... Trivia

  • This quote is from what movie? "I think those Ethiopians enjoy starving. Keeps them thin and graceful."  Answer »
  • In the 1989 film The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, & Her Lover, who says the following quote: "What you've got to realize is that the clever cook puts unlikely things together, like duck and orange, like pineapple and ham. It's called 'artistry'."  Answer »
  • In The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover, what is the Wife forced to eat at the last supper?  Answer »
  • Which movie can we hear Academy Award winner Helen Mirren speaking this line "Try the cock, I hear it's a delicacy!"  Answer »
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