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

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

Taglines: Lust…Murder…Dessert. Bon Appetit!

The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover movie synopsis. 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 which has been interpreted as an allegory for Thatcherism.

The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover is a 1989 British-French romantic black comedy crime drama film written and directed by Peter Greenaway, starring Richard Bohringer, Michael Gambon, Helen Mirren, and Alan Howard in the titular roles. The film’s graphic scatology, violence, and nude scenes, as well as its lavish cinematography and formalism, were noted at the time of its release.

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

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

Directed by: Peter Greenaway
Starring: Richard Bohringer, Michael Gambon, Helen Mirren, Alan Howard, Tim Roth, Ciarán Hinds, Roger Ashton-Griffiths, Liz Smith, Emer Gillespie
Screenplay by: Peter Greenaway
Production Design by: Ben van Os, Jan Roelfs
Cinematography by: Sacha Vierny
Film Editing by: John Wilson
Costume Design by: Jean-Paul Gaultier
Music by: Michael Nyman
Distributed by: Palace Pictures
Release Date: October 13, 1989

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