The Cook the Thief His Wife & Her Lover 1989

Caryn James, New York Times: 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. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: It's probably safe to say that the British director Peter Greenaway holds the ugliest view of mankind ever put forth by a maker of feature films. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Taboos? If director Peter Greenaway has any, you can't tell by this film. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: It doesn't simply make a show of being uncompromising -- it is uncompromised in every single shot from beginning to end. Read more

Geoff Andrew, Time Out: For a Jacobean-style drama about deadly emotions, the film lacks passion; only in the final half-hour, with Michael Nyman's funereal music supplying a welcome gravity, does it at last exert a stately power. Read more

Variety Staff, Variety: Albert is one of the ugliest characters ever brought to the screen. Ignorant, over-bearing and violent, it's a gloriously rich performance by Gambon. Read more

Hal Hinson, Washington Post: Greenaway, the bemused, coolly ironic truth-teller, has painted a cruel portrait for a cruel time. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: Give or take another masterpiece coming down the pike, this intricately assembled, viscerally provocative tract on consumerism gone full and grisly circle, is without a doubt, the most accomplished, astounding film of the year. Read more