As a filmmaker, Peter Greenaway funnels influences from many art forms onto the screen. Primary among these influences is painting -- his cinematic eye is informed by a training in art history and a painterly sense of color, composition, and frame....
[more]As a filmmaker, Peter Greenaway funnels influences from many art forms onto the screen. Primary among these influences is painting -- his cinematic eye is informed by a training in art history and a painterly sense of color, composition, and frame. Greenaway learned to work in the medium of film through an editing job at the British Central Office of Information, where he cut short documentaries for 11 years starting in 1965. As early as 1966, he began making his own short films, which were influenced by linguistics and philosophy.
His first commercially successful feature, "The Draughtsman's Contract," showed in theaters in 1983. But he didn't provoke true controversy till 1989, when "The Cook the Thief His Wife and Her Lover" stirred the public with its seemingly gratuitous scenes of sex and violence. The movie takes place in the restaurant the thief and the wife frequent; the verbally and physically abusive thief adores the social atmosphere of the restaurant and the daily cuisine of the devoted cook. Emotionally paralyzed on account of her piggish husband, the wife begins an affair with a quiet, dispassionate man she notices at the restaurant. When the husband discovers the romance he brutally retaliates. The wife and a sympathetic cook team up to concoct one of least tasteful climaxes in film history. Through beautiful filmmaking Greenaway accomplishes a melodramatic, mournful portrayal of an overindulgent, contrived society and the violent, oppressive relationships within it; perfectly colored scenes and costumes accentuate a realistically disturbing dialog.
Greenaway's affair with the body and emotionally shocking relationships continued in "The Pillow Book," the story of a contemporary Japanese woman obsessed with writing calligraphy on her skin. Highly erotic images surface in waves and patterns as the film weaves through Nagiko's love affair with a translator, her despicable marriage, the authoring of 11 books, and her ritual of exchanging sex for words. The mystique of Nagiko's fetish propels this enchanting, stylized film. From one of the Pillow Books: "I have found that there are but two things in life which are dependable: the delights of flesh and the delights of literature."
Greenaway's films shatter or dismiss narrative, using it as an excuse to present startling images and sounds. The director has cultivated a unique relationship with Minimalist composer Michael Nyman, who has scored almost all of his feature films. Ever versatile, Greenaway has also written the books for three operas. He remains one of the most innovative voices in film, manifesting ideas thematically, metaphorically, and whimsically. Instead of breaking old barriers, Greenaway simply refuses to acknowledge that boundaries exist.
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