Peter Greenaway delivers a terrific film about an architect who becomes paranoid due to his stomach pains and believes that it is because his wife is poisoning him.
It is a masterwork in terms of cinematography, with every frame highlighting the stunning architecture of Italy, Rome. Greenaway takes great care in the composition of every scene, blocking every actor in an almost painterly fashion.
Brian Dennehy gives an incredible performance as Stourley Kracklite as his personal and work life begin to slowly unravel and he is overcome by paranoia, which may or may not be justified. Chloe Webb, portraying his younger wife, Louisa, is not quite his equal and her performance is lacking when compared to Dennehy’s. She is called upon in scenes to have emotional outbursts, but they feel more as if they were acted for the stage rather than the silver screen.
The storyline does become repetitive and many of the characters are therefore stuck having the same arguments over and over again for much of the running time. It does feel as if the basic nature of the plot would suggest that the film was better suited to have a short running time.
Wim Mertens delivers one of the greatest original soundtracks that I have ever heard. It is beautiful and haunting and deserves to be more widely recognised, much like all of Greenaway’s work, regrettably.
It is a masterwork in terms of cinematography, with every frame highlighting the stunning architecture of Italy, Rome. Greenaway takes great care in the composition of every scene, blocking every actor in an almost painterly fashion.
Brian Dennehy gives an incredible performance as Stourley Kracklite as his personal and work life begin to slowly unravel and he is overcome by paranoia, which may or may not be justified. Chloe Webb, portraying his younger wife, Louisa, is not quite his equal and her performance is lacking when compared to Dennehy’s. She is called upon in scenes to have emotional outbursts, but they feel more as if they were acted for the stage rather than the silver screen.
The storyline does become repetitive and many of the characters are therefore stuck having the same arguments over and over again for much of the running time. It does feel as if the basic nature of the plot would suggest that the film was better suited to have a short running time.
Wim Mertens delivers one of the greatest original soundtracks that I have ever heard. It is beautiful and haunting and deserves to be more widely recognised, much like all of Greenaway’s work, regrettably.
