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The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover

Turkish title: Aşçı, hırsız, karısı ve aşığı

“Lust...Murder...Dessert. Bon Appetit!”

1989 · 2 h 4 min
Directed by Peter Greenaway
CrimeDrama

Cast

Richard Bohringer Michael Gambon Helen Mirren Alan Howard

Credits

Written by: Peter Greenaway

Plot

Albert Spica, a brutal gangster, dines nightly at the restaurant Le Hollandais with his gang. His wife Georgina starts an affair with a quiet bookseller in the restaurant, helped by the sympathetic chef, and when Albert finds out, he takes revenge. Peter Greenaway's 1989 film, with Helen Mirren and Michael Gambon, is an extravagant, stylised, violent satire.

Sinekatalog’s take

Peter Greenaway's lavish, grotesque fable is a feast of colour, food and cruelty. It is formal, theatrical and shocking, and Michael Gambon's brute is monstrous, in a film that is fiercely stylised.Sinekatalog’s own editorial review – not a user or critic quote.

Ratings

IMDb: 7.5 / 10 (45,628 votes)
IMDb rating and vote count from the IMDb ratings dataset (October 2026). Scores change over time.

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