Rating: 
Summary: Elegant, erotic, comical & controversial
Review: This is probably Peter Greenaway's most accessible film. It's a controversial film and has a NC-17 rating in the US. It's a tale of sex, lust, food, gluttony, murder and revenge. The film opens with a vulgar scatological scene, when a man is smeared with excrement by 'The Thief', Albert Spica. Most of the film is set in an elegant gourmet restaurent called Le Hollandais. Spica dines at this restaurant frequently, along with his gorgeous wife Georgina (played by solemnly sexy Helen Mirren) and his group of coarse associates. Spica is a vulgarian, who growls his orders towards those around him. Georgina then becomes fixated with a customer in the restaurant (Alan Howard) and the two of them have a dangerous sexual affair there. Eventually, Spica discovers their liaison, and the film draws to its memorable and shocking conclusion, which is the ultimate retribution. Sumptuous to look like at and superbly performed. A must see. The DVD image is in widescreen 2.35:1 and it is a good transfer. It is well defined and the colours are splendid. The sound is in Dolby 2.0 and pretty good. Michael Nyman's excellent soundtrack uses the surround channel to good effect. The main menu is nicely animated with a sexual scene at the bottom of the screen and a boy singing at the top, with Nyman's music playing. There are 30 chapters. Sadly, the extras are just two trailers.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, but polarizing film
Review: Peter Greenaway has been know to offend and this film has some trademarks of that. First and foremost, It should be noted that the film includes cannibalism. That element isn't prevalent and it only appears at the end, but this particular director has an incredible knack for one thing "Bold Emphasis" and this dark feeling that he emphasizes with this film are what gave it the Nc-17 rating. If you have a strong stomach and enjoy broad, dark, and vicious humor, then you will probably enjoy this because the violence is quite harsh and probably too offensive to most people. For those who will be able to enjoy this will notice the great performances by the whole cast. That is also one of the touchtones of Greenaway's work: an ensemble cast.
Here's a quick synopsis: A loud thief is abusive and vulgar around his wife and basically is abusive to everyone else in the restaurant that he owns. His wife escapes this in a small way by having an affair with fellow patron of the restaurant in the kitchen of the restaurant. The Cook keeps this as secret as he can and the husband doesn't really suspect anything because he's too arrogant to concede it until someone tells him. Then some very violent things happen. Enjoy!!!
Rating:
Summary: Incredible
Review: Couldn't get over this film. The music, the art direction, the perversity. What more do you want? Seriously though, it's very thought provoking. I don't always like Greenaway but this is one of his best. And who'd complain at Helen Mirren naked?
Rating:
Summary: A Cook Not For The Faint of Heart
Review: The first time I saw "The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover", I thought it was the most vile, disgusting film I'd ever seen. I felt physically ill as I left the theatre. Months later, after still reading rave reviews, I gave it a second chance (on video for $1). It was beautiful, overwhelming, multi-layered, sexy, shocking, tragic, and even funny. If you steel yourself for this experience, you can enjoy it for what it truly is: a Master film-maker, working with a masterful group of actors (led by the exquisite Helen Mirren, who is flawless and Michael Gambon, who is terrifying), wearing unmistakeable costumes by Gaultier, feauturing music by an amazing composer (Michael Nyman), all coming together beautifully to tell this beautifully lit and photographed tale of love, revenge, power, and tragedy. Be warned: it is not for the faint of heart. For those who dare, it is a once in a lifetime cinematic experience that you will never forget.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: While much of Peter Greenaway's work is difficult to access...even if you happen to be watching it, his films never fail to challenge, titilate and, above all, impact audiences. Many of those qualities are measured in both negative and positive scales simultaneously. However, this film stands out among Greenaway's work in that it is particularly fine tuned toward the emotional end of the spectrum. Helen Mirren's performance is easily the best that Greenaway has captured on film, and one of Mirren's most subdued yet communicative performances. Aside from all else Mirren's performance is heartrending and cuts to the quick of the film's plot. Excellent overall.
Rating:
Summary: Intelligent, evocative cinematography
Review: This movie is art on film. The use of color in both setting and costume/dress are really cool. The character Georgina's dress changes from red to white in the blink of an eye, as she passes from one room to the next, seamlessly. The director is able to convey the feeling of terror and compounding tension with each act.
Some might be offended by some of the nudity and sexuality in the film, but those who are probably aren't the type to appreciate artistic film. And there isn't enough of either to please the pornographic crowd that tries to justify nudies with a vague "artistic" claim.
The film contains not so much sexuality as it does sensuality, as the heroine Georgina is desperate to bond with another human at any level, after having to endure the monstrous, inhumane treatment of her husband/jailer.
The chef (cook) provides a bridge among the other 3 mains, as indeed his restaurant is the stage for most of the film. He is the stoic voice of reason in a deplorable situation.
I have not seen any of Greenaway's other films, but have meant to do so after first seeing this in the late 80's. His use of imagery is, for me, on a par with Terrence Malick.
Rating: 
Summary: Like a Kick in the Gut
Review: If this film was a conscious allegory about Margaret Thatcher's England (about the intellectuals & the public going to sleep and all that), it equally well applies to present-day US. Stripped of that possible meaning, it's simply a savage exercise in the trashing of the sensibilities of the art-film audience in the most visceral way possible. Supposedly, Greenaway wondered what it would be like to present a modern-day Jacobean revenge play, but it seems more a movie by a man who was at war with his own sensibilities, as if by doing violence to them he was trying to body-slam both high-society pretentiousness (symbolized here by the obsession with fine food) and have his revenge against those who would pretend to such a station (Albert Spica, the horrendous restauranteur-thief). The beautiful, color-coded images and tableaux, the over-the-top costumes and relentlessly driving Nyman music are entirely overturned by the coarse/eloquent dialogue and action (like just about every Greenaway film). It's a movie whose content attacks its form. But the acting is great. Gambon's Albert Spica is one of the most memorable villains in the movies--the brutal boor. You flinch with apprehension every time the scene switches back to him (although he's onscreen most of the time). You don't know what outrageously offensive thing he'll say next--except that it will be outrageous and offensive. His character is one-dimensional, and so repellent that you eventually try to turn off what he's saying, but this is on purpose. He's one of those people who thinks he can buy or bully his way into respectability and high society because, as Richard the Cook says, "No one else will have you, Mister Spica." So he pillages those in his own restaurant. When his long-suffering wife rebels and has an affair with a bookish man, and Spica takes his revenge on her, he then gets what he deserves and it's the most stomach-turning ending in a movie you will ever see (no wonder NC-17 was practically invented for Greenaway). But it is at once fitting, terrifying, and clever. This movie took sheer guts to make at every stage, but still isn't as disturbing as Greenaway's "The Baby of Macon" which couldn't even find distribution in the US.
Rating:
Summary: Another unusual film from Greenaway
Review: I just had a few comments on this unusual movie. I'm something of a fan of Greenaway although his movies, which are filled with mature and dark and even perverse themes, are controversial and aren't exactly many people's favorites. I know several people who have pretty eclectic tastes when it comes to independent directors and film makers but they draw the line when it comes to Greenaway's often dark, depressing movies. For one thing, men often get the short end of the stick when the women finally take their revenge for the abuses in their romantic relationships, as in the three husbands who are drowned by their disaffected wives in Drowning by Numbers, the arrogant draughtsman who finally gets his comeuppance in The Draughtman's Contract, the father of the female protagonist in The Pillow Book who is being sexually exploited by his gay boss, and the lover in this movie who also meets his end when the thief learns of his dalliances with his wife. There are still a couple of Greenaway films I haven't seen yet, so I can't say they're all like this , but so far themes such as the power of women and the power of sex over men, which often leads them to their final judgment and premature demise, seems to be a common theme. This movie is no different and besides the dangers of illicit sexual liaisons, this film features other dark themes such as the good man dying while the evil man (the thief) continues to prosper, the general amorality of many of the characters, the grimy back alleys and poverty that lurks just outside the doors of the upscale restaurant and establishment where the main characters all have dinner, and even cannibalism. Despite Greenaway's movies many dark themes he has the ability to produce beautiful and vivid and striking images too that will stay with you a long time, whether his overall filmic vision appeals to you or not. If there is a more unusual director out there or anyone whose creative vision is as unique as Greenaway's I don't know who it is.
Rating: 
Summary: This movie is just plain hideous
Review: The writing, directing, acting, sets, and cinetography were all first rate. The costumes were also fantastic, but the content of this movie were just plain disgusting. Judging from the reviews on this site, I would have to conclude there are a lot of freaks out there.
Rating: 
Summary: WHAT ART?
Review: I read the theme. Sounded interesting. I rented. I was disgusted. This shallow wannabe flick with a highly predictable tale of adultery opens with a scene that has a man stripped to his tee, smeared all over with dog excrement, and even having it shoved down his throat. Which, as you may imagine, has nothing to do with the rest of the movie. The sole intent of the director seems to have been to constantly bombard the audience with horrendous characters (the thief), sickening imagery (some very likable characters are tortured, maimed or killed), characters being degraded in sickening ways, and as a cherry on the terrible cake, a bite of cannabilism. The production values of the movie are pretty good, so it's kind of sad to see them squandered on such a vile, grotesque story. Reviewers at Amazon seem to have taken the good camerawork as a conduit to say, "This is ART!" No, it isn't. It's just grossness for grossness' sake. Oh, and it's gross. Don't see it on a full stomach, if you do at all.
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