3 out of 3 people found the following review helpful:

Incomparable

A Customer from London, England, 10th January, 2007

I have to disagree with the first reviewer. Although the subject matter is extremely disturbing, I fail to see how being 'of itself' can be a criticism of any film. However, I sympathise as regards the rape scene. Although it is integral to the film, it is probably too cruel and even as a huge fan of the director had to question how necessary this brutal section is. Although the viewer doesn't actually 'see' anything, the scene is horrible to watch. However, this film is most certainly not boring. I have rarely been less bored watching a film. It is breathtaking, spellbinding film-making. The film is simply an incomparable work of art. The final section of the film is almost unbearably shocking but is also disturbingly beautiful. Although hardly the best starting point for Greenaway's work, it shows a peerless director at the height of his considerable powers. Hopefully this new release will improve upon the dreadful earlier Australian DVD version I bought because I was very disappointed by how the visuals were practically ruined in the transfer.

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*** May contain spoilers ***

Not for the faint-hearted

annamorphic from , 26th August, 2009

Much of this film is beautiful as it details the ritualistic workings of a corrupt society. The colour and detail, marvellous staging and acting are all top notch. However it contains what I consider to be the most unpleasant rape scene on film. It isn't particularly explicit visually, but continues for an agonisingly long time. To be honest I had to switch it off. Now maybe that's a good thing, and maybe it should be required viewing as a sort of aversion therapy but it went beyond my threshold of tolerance (and I'm not generally a squeamish film viewer by any means). Watch it at your peril if you have empathy for anyone subjected to rape (male or female), and watch it as an education in desperation if you have no idea what I'm talking about.

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Sumptuous, bonkers, satisfying

A Customer from Bristol, 8th January, 2009

What an excellent experience watching that was! Really muddled and confused (in terms of the theatrical element of it) but gorgeous to behold and extremely memorable. Perhaps it has a similar quality as Lynch's 'Dune' for those very same reasons. I also really liked the script - it had a kind of chanty, liturgical quality to it which tied in nicely with the glorious religion bashing that was going on! The final two scenes - presumably the reason why it's not more widley available - were pretty unpleasant but not so shocking by today's standards. The composition of the long shot in one scene was a joy to behold. I got the feeling it was, perhaps, at little OTT and that a lighter touch would have resulted in just as poigniant an ending, but I am overall undeceided due to the audacious style of the film; it could be argued as a fitting ending to such a baroque, gothic and overblown piece of work. On the whole though - warped genius with a couragiousemphasis in the quality of the production (which the cover art does not do justice! It looks like a crap BBC play!) for such a whacked out and insane screen play. Brings to mind 'Brazil' for similar reasons. It certainly made me long for more films which celebrate the art of building a set! There's no reason why it should be pushed aside as it has been. There are FAR nastier - and less beautifully made ('Baise Moi', anyone?) films out there which haven't received the same treatment. It seems odd, in these times where films 'they tried to BAN' etc are so popular, 'The Baby of Macon' has not been given some kind of revival in celebration of it's supposed controversy. They released 'Natural Born Killers' on that kind of bandwagon and that film was total dogsh*t.

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2 out of 7 people found the following review helpful:

Horrible, horrible, horrible

A Customer from Laugharne, Wales, 28th February, 2006

This is the only film I've seen which I wish I had never seen. Previous to this I was a great fan of Greenaway; I was so disturbed by this that I have not been able to watch any of his works since. I'm not sure why - perhaps its the foulness of it, coupled with its total pointlessness - you can't make something this nasty without it being about something other than itself. And just in case you're getting excited and thinking - wow! - it is also the most brain-numbingly boring film I've ever seen.

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