If you can "stomach" the content of this film by Peter Greenaway it is absolutely brilliant. Though filled with vile, grotesque scenes (cannibalism, torture, rot), they are filmed very beautifully. The costumes are remarkable and even color-changing as the actors walk from one room to another - color is a huge, driving element. The majority of the film takes place in the restaurant. Michael Gambon's (the second Dumbledore) raging, maniacal role alone is enough to entertain as he subjugates and humiliates anyone who steps foot into his restaurant, especially his wife who falls for a quiet, book-reading man who dines there regularly. Helen Mirren, as the tragic wife, plays a very dangerous victim quite admirably. And one cannot see this film without remembering the white-haired, soprano boy singing angelically throughout his brutal servitude. Every character has a symbolic role as the film is a message in which (gorgeously disgusting) art plays a large part in delivering. One of my favorite dark comedies.
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