Still a dish at 30, Peter Greenaway’s shocker serves up haute thrills as Helen Mirren has all she can eat when her gangster-restaurateur husband (Michael Gambon) becomes an acquired taste. Fabulous sets and Jean-Paul Gaultier-designed costumes make this a feast for the eyes as well.

REVIEWS

“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, astounding film of the year.” – Desson Thomson, Washington Post

“When it premiered in 1989, Peter Greenaway’s THE COOK, THE THIEF, HIS WIFE, AND HER LOVER stunned audiences with its unflinching portraits of abuse and sexuality. It’s as dark as comedy can get, but it remains in the collective film consciousness through the generation of filmmakers that Greenaway influenced.” – Steve Greene, IndieWire

“I regretted watching it for many years. There’s something so upsetting to me about the level of artifice in this film. What you’re left with is Greenaway’s wholesale disgust with the human race.” – Ari Aster, IndieWire