This movie is beautifully horrible. That is to say that
it's full of horrific images that are filmed beautifully. The
amazing thing about this style is that, unlike I am
Cuba, in which the beauty of the shots take away
from the ghastly subjects of the movie, this movie manages to
still feel completely unsettling and gross, even in the
beauty. It's both. That's good cinematography and art
direction, I'd say.
The majority of the movie takes place within a restaurant,
and focuses on four miserable characters. The most blatant
being the owner of the place, Albert, who is probably one of
the most disgusting and overbearing cinematic characters I've
ever seen. Much like a fully grown, fat, spoiled child--Albert
does whatever he wants, says whatever he wants, and often does
it in the foulest manner possible. The movie opens with him
"scolding" a chef that works under him, than having him
stripped of his clothes, then pissing all over him. I think
you get the idea. Most of the "friends" Albert carries about
with are basically the only types of people that would ever be
able to tolerate him.
Without summarizing the plot too much: his wife, who at
first seems like a martyr, simply by being married to his
insanity, ends up entering an affair with one of the patrons
of the restaurant. The main cook helps it happen.
That's a very tame way to describe it. The movie is very
"extreme" in almost every regard. Virtually all the characters
interact in some vile manner at some point, and virtually
every uncomfortable element we can see is shown. It's a sure
bet that part of what director Greenaway's point with this
movie is to show that we, as human beings, are still basically
disgusting creatures.
There's an intense melodrama that exists even beyond the
characters--it exists in the direction. Expensive, elaborate,
and surreal set designs for the restaurant's kitchen, which
look like something straight out of Gilliam's Brazil,
are shown throughout. The music is classical orchestra. The
camera movements are grandiose tracking shots across the
building, cutting through walls, following several elements
within one scene, often in long take. This direction would
seem particularly over-the-top if not for the ghastly images
and characters we're watching, which more than make up for it.
Of course, on some surface level, not everyone appears
awful. There's an innocent "choir boy" with stark white hair
who only really becomes "rotten" in any regard until the end.
The wife, played by Helen Mirren, seems at first like a
horrible victim. And, of course, she is in a lot of ways. But
her actions eventually become as disgusting as her husband,
despite the more peaceful demeanor. More importantly, however,
she uses sex as her escape. She views herself as doing
something lovely, beautiful, and tender--blinding herself from
the obvious deceptiveness and bizarreness of the affair. Each
of the "sex scenes" we bare witness to are filmed in beautiful
lighting--one symbolizes Mirren's mentality perfectly: in a
far away room within the kitchen, the two have sex completely
naked, in a room full of dead chickens. At first it doesn't
look that way, though--with an eerie touch of green lighting,
the chickens look like plants--and it feels like they're in a
garden... and the association of The Garden of Eden comes
a-callin'. In fact, this is a perfect way to express the irony
of the wife's mentality: she views this all as a lustful
"escape" from reality--a reality which is more horrible than
the room full of dead chickens hanging against the walls.
There are certainly various interpretations one can draw
from all the cultural references to music, painting, french
language, and books. Some have viewed this as a political
parable of sorts. The carefully crafted nature of the
narrative would give evidence for that kind of interpretation
(an often stated one is this mirrors the rule of Margaret
Thatcher), but if that is the case, we are never explicitly
given that information. It's up to the audience.
This movie can be basically summarized in that way: this
world is a horrible, extreme place that you can't help but
become horrible in, too. This is obviously an artistic film,
but because of the content, the MPAA kind of blanketly placed
an "X" rating on it. That puts this movie in the same shelves
as pornography, which this movie is certainly not. Everybody
knows this, even the MPAA, but rules are rules! The
situation has given this film more attention, to be used as an
example of why our rating system is fairly ridiculous.
Did I like the movie? Uhm, yes, I think so. Sometimes the
"epicness" of the direction got a little tiresome, but this is
really a strong, carefully made film and it's hard not to give
it the respect it deserves. The end is a big payoff in
grotesqueness, and manages to upstage the whole movie.
From DUMBASS
AND THE FAG
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