The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover

Albert Spica, a brash and domineering mobster, purchases an elegant French restaurant in London and turns every evening into a loud display of his power. The upscale space becomes a stage for his coarse manners, driving away patrons and leaving his wife Georgina fed up with the spectacle. She starts an affair with Michael, a steady guest who understands quieter pleasures. Their secret romance is poised to stay hidden, but Spica suspects there is more to the whispers than he wants to admit. As the tension tightens, he begins to craft a punitive response that will test bound and loyalty. The city outside continues, while inside the kitchen and dining room, rules and appetites clash with dangerous, unforeseen consequences tonight.

Directed by Peter Greenaway and released in 1989, the film arrives as Greenaway's own script rather than an adaptation. It leans on lavish production design, meticulous framing, and a theatre like rhythm that invites audiences to savor decadence and danger.

The film grossed about seven million seven hundred twenty four thousand seven hundred one dollars worldwide on a modest budget of two point three million. Its performance signaled solid art house appeal and international festival traction for a provocative drama.

Among cinephiles the film is remembered for its lush, wallpaper like sets, inventive editing, and the way food frames power and desire. It helped cement Greenaway's reputation as a bold provocateur and influenced later stylized crime dramas and art house theatrical experiences, inspiring debates about excess and spectacle worldwide today.

Critics praised its audacious style and exacting technical craft, while noting the violence and decor may overwhelm some viewers. The film probes appetite and the hunger for control within marriage and class tension, using dark humor and menace to explore power, desire, and betrayal in a saturated, theatrical setting, too.