This film was chosen by Paul Harrell, winner of the first week of the #ScreenshotGame. It just happens to also be on the list of 1001 Films I Should See, so I killed two birds with one stone.

See the review below:

Georgina (Helen Mirren) is married to Albert (Michael Gambon), a crazed crook who owns a restaurant. This restaurant is run by Richard (Richard Bohringer), one of the best experimental chefs to ever exist. One day Georgina catches the eye of a quiet customer, Michael (Alan Howard), and begins having an affair with him. The film follows the relationship that blossoms between Michael and Gerogina as well as Albert’s constant outbursts in his restaurant and how he constantly gorges on his vices, which mainly includes food.

If there’s one thing this movie is not is middling. The film comes at you from it’s opening scene in the parking lot where Albert teaches someone who’s done him wrong by covering him with shit. From then on the movie just hits you with visual feats that can only be described as “different” – add your own Clooney expression from Fantastic Mr. Fox – and in a very interesting way.

The film takes place in approximately about four locations – all around or within this restaurant. What makes each of these locations completely different is that while they all are within this one bigger location they are all lit completely differently. Peter Greenaway made the artistic decision of having the characters’ clothing change colours with the colour of the lighting from room to room, which I don’t think was that effective on any real thematic level but rather just on a “woah that’s trippy” level.

Being someone who sits through a lot of revered films, especially while working through this series of films, I’m not unfamiliar with auteur filmmaking like this. I must say though that I’m timid about using that word here since I’m very unfamiliar with the filmmaker’s work and am not sure whether the look and feel of this movie is a product of his characteristics as an artist or just how he felt this story needed to be interpreted.

The story however of this affair and how these two were hiding from room to room till eventually Georgina’s thug of a husband discovers that his wife’s been unfaithful is an interesting story and well portrayed by all of the outstanding acting that’s been pushed into this movie. Somehow thanks to Gambon’s brilliant performance I was able to attach myself to that gluttonous character and understand his reasoning for why he did each act that he did in the film. From being the snobbish food lover that he is to the horribly possessive husband that he is.

What bothered me about this movie is all the other elements that many would like to gloss over as “art” rather than talk about it directly as something they like and why. I know that art is a thing that is for no reason other than to be and the moment it serves a practical function is the moment it ceases to be art, so I’m not calling those people wrong, but I just didn’t see it that way with this movie.

IMDB says 7.4/10
Rotten Tomatoes says 89%
I say 5.0/10