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Peter Greenaway: Neo-Jacobean Director
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18358 |
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Section : |
THE ARTS
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| Issue
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9 / 1990 |
1,576 Words |
| Author
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David H. Ehrlich
David H. Ehrlich, an avid theatergoer, is an independent
writer based in Washington, D.C. He has previously written
numerous essays for The World & I. |
By now, it is certainly no longer news to any reader of the daily movie review pages that Peter Greenaway is that serious quality director whose latest film was rated X by the Motion Picture Assocation of America. Faced with the rating, he and his distributor, Miramax, decided to release The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover uncut and uncensored.
The film, which earned its X given its much-publicized scenes of cannibalism, coprophilia, copulation, nudity, torture, and bloodlust, has played for several months in top theaters in most cities, perhaps thanks to - rather than in spite of - the MPAA's judgment. A spokeswoman for the film's distributor reported that the rating came from the “overall tone” of the film, and that “there's no one scene they [the producers] could delete in order to get an R.” Mind you, the New York Times the critic found it “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.”
To evaluate or dismiss Cook, Thief exclusively on the grounds of its sensational rating is unfair to the film, its creator, and its public. Despite all the nasty content, the film is indeed and extraordinary display of cinematic virtuosity, and undeniably the product of a mind of great cultivation and talent.
Who Is This Enfant Terrible?
To begin with, Greenaway is no enfant. He is a 47-year-old Englishman with the demeanor of an Oxford don. He has devoured the classics of his own nation and era, together with those of several
... (1997 of 9189 Characters)
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