Overview
A lavish restaurant becomes the backdrop for a twisted tale of love and betrayal.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Extreme
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Graphic
- baroque
- erotic
- grotesque
- arthouse film night
- dark cinema marathon
What critics said
Critics broadly regard the film as an audacious, powerful, visually exceptional erotic crime drama, while acknowledging that its brutality and excess are deliberately divisive.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The film assigns strongly contrasting color palettes to different locations, making movement through the restaurant world immediately legible and theatrical.
Albert Spica's brutality, the restaurant hierarchy, and the extreme treatment of bodies turn marital and criminal violence into a broader allegory of power and consumption.
Long controlled compositions, elaborate costumes, choreographed movement, and restaurant mise-en-scène create an operatic artificial world.
Georgina's secret relationship with the gentle bookseller functions as a private counterforce to her husband's sadistic control.
Films like The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, and why
The Last Emperor
audacious erotic crime drama, stylized violence, and lavishly theatrical production design
Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom
baroque visual composition, surreal allegory, and grotesque social satire
Blue Velvet
transgressive eroticism, brutal power dynamics, and heightened art-film style
The Night Porter
stylized infidelity, cruelty, and emotionally severe European art-house melodrama
Movie Details
- Director
- Peter Greenaway
- Release Date
- 1989-10-13
- Runtime
- 124 min
- Rating
- 7.3 / 10 (747)
Cast
- Michael Gambon
- Richard Bohringer
- Helen Mirren
- Alan Howard
- Tim Roth
- Ciarán Hinds
- Liz Smith
- Gary Olsen
- Ewan Stewart
- Roger Ashton-Griffiths
Where to watch in United States
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover about?
- A sumptuous and savage restaurant fable transforms adultery, criminal power, and culinary ritual into an operatic reckoning with cruelty.
- What is The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover as measured, its intensity as extreme and its storytelling as layered.
- Is The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover violent?
- Yes. Ember rates the violence in The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover as graphic.
- What did critics think of The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover?
- Critics broadly regard the film as an audacious, powerful, visually exceptional erotic crime drama, while acknowledging that its brutality and excess are deliberately divisive.
- Which films are like The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover?
- Films with a similar feel include The Last Emperor, Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom, Blue Velvet, and The Night Porter.
- How long is The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover?
- The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover runs 124 minutes.
- Where can I watch The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover?
- In United States, The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover is available to rent or buy from Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Fandango At Home.
