15 out of 22 people found the following review helpful:

Greenaway .. Throw -away !!

Paul Jay from London, England, 29th August, 2004

Why, Oh Why, do I persist in trying to watch Peter Greenaway films ? Like most of his other films, this is utter arthouse bo****ks !! completely plotless, hopelessly disjointed and badly made soft porn passing itself off as Art !! Don't waste you time - this is utter cak !

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9 out of 10 people found the following review helpful:

For self harmers only!!!!!!

A Customer from Cornwall, England, 15th April, 2005

Tries to be funny, clever and erotic. However, is not funny, clever or erotic. I managed to watch to the end so there nust have been some morbid facination, a bit like not being able to leave a sore alone. The film features a father and son who gather about them a harem of strange women. The story starts with the fathers grief at the loss of his wife and continues as the son trys to distract his father through a series of sexual encounters.

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5 out of 5 people found the following review helpful:

A beautiful film - typical Greenaway

Richard from London, 27th November, 2005

If 'plot' means action and adventure to you then go and watch something else. This is typical Greenaway, beautifully filmed, beautifully thought-out, beautifully crafted. It contains familiar themes - self-conscious, narcissistic musings on life and death, grief, gender identity, power in relationships, symmetry - which you appreciate as much from the way each shot is framed as you do from what the actors say or do. In fact, it is Greenaway's self-conscious narcissism that comes through so strongly in this film. He is very conscious of creating something unnatural for us to watch, and very good at turning that back on us as the viewers and making us uncomfortable by considering our own narcissism by reflection. A very cool film - but not quite up there with 'a zed and two noughts' or 'the cook, the thief'.

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4 out of 6 people found the following review helpful:

Tribute to italian film and japanese style

veego from lewisham, 8th October, 2004

Greenaway has given us a smorgasbord of Italian and Japanese film tribute and style respectively.

He sets out with the assertion that filmmaking is about dirty old men living out their erotic dreams (probably heightened by the surfeit of weak flesh.)

Nevertheless, it proves a compelling enough film to watch and throughout we are treated to cinematography of artily staged scenarios.

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1 out of 1 people found the following review helpful:

Oh dear!!

Ell1981 from from London, 22nd December, 2009

Not great at all-lacking substance all the way through.

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1 out of 1 people found the following review helpful:

Strange

zand20s from from Leicester, 16th August, 2008

Typical Greenaway mish-mash, you either love or hate this directors work. Artistic, stylish and unusual.

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1 out of 1 people found the following review helpful:

when the earth moves...

deeboy from LONDON, 18th November, 2005

I reckon Greenaway had a lot of fun with this boys flick. It just doesn't compare in terms of depth and meaning with Pillow Book, The Cook... or the Draughtsman, but then it's clearly not supposed to.

But look beyond the surface and there's plenty to take away...

As with so many of his films, there's an ironic contrast running throughout. When fantasy be comes real life - it's a dichotomy which Greenaway wants to have a lot of fun with and he does. You know it's never going to be quite possible to live out a fantasy for real, and yet you get the sense that it's almost possible in this film!

Real life fantasy has it has its ups and downs... the jealousies, the bickering, the exhaustion... confidence v repression and self-consciousness... satisfaction v emptiness (one of our heroes literally expires in fantasy heaven on earth while one never quite attains it)... and of course the younger v older generation game.

Add in some self-mocking humour about film-making and the film-maker and it all makes for good original fun ... all beautifully shot in Greenaway/Kasander style of course.

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