Alba survives the accident although she loses one leg, and her sinister physician eventually. Peter greenaways magnificently ambitious, seriously odd second film matches astonishing visuals to the themes of twinship, natural. A zed and two noughts is also about zoology, then how should the films of peter. A tale of two twin brothers whose wives are killed in a car accident caused by a white swan. The two become increasingly obsessed with the decay of dead organisms, the evolution of life and the cars driver alba bewick, who lost a leg in the accident. The film is a rumination on life, love, bad sex, doubling. So while perusing the films leaving criterion channel for the month, i threw on the draughtsmans contract two nights ago and absolutely loved it. Twin zoologists lose their wives in a car accident and become obsessed with decomposing animals.
Greenaway referred to vierny as his most important collaborator. I find it is very easy to admire a peter greenaway film but harder to love them and i think zoo captures this perfectly. The accident kills two other women, the wives of two twin zoologists, oliver and oswald. Deze bijzonder fraai door sacha vierny gefotografeerde film werd deels opgenomen in diergaarde blijdorp met een nederlandengelse rolbezetting en bevat in. This film was greenaways first collaboration with cinematographer sacha vierny. When one takes a zed and two noughts, one might spell the word zoo. Watch a zed and two noughts, the british psychotronic film by peter. Obsessed with the accident, the zoologist husbands of the dead women twins oliver and oswald become fascinated by the processes of decay and embark on an affair with the amputee. Film of a thousand cuts, tableaux rendered with an artists eye for colour and composition. Posted on march 31, 2017 by admin with no comments. Gradually, they advance to more and more complex organisms. Stefan dreess rating of the film a zed and two noughts stefan drees a perfect example for greenaways obsession with numbers, alphabetical orders, renaissance and early baroque painting in this case especially vermeer, but you can also find many references to brueghel e. When an accident with a white swan leaves alba without a leg and the deuces wives dead the trio must cope with a scheming doctor and their own grief. Rigorous formality framing meticulous reconstruction, an enigmatic masters coded fragments washed up on the shore of time.
Peter greenaways visceral and perversely comic third feature. I admittedly dont know exactly what this film is, but can say for certain that a zed and two noughts, an early feature by englands peter greenaway, is a morbid and fascinating oddity unlike anything else peter greenaway has made quite a few idiosyncratic films since his debut feature, the three hour bbc mock documentary the falls, in 1980. A zed and two noughts follows the lives of alba bewick, and oswald and oliver deuce. Oliver deuce, a successful doctor, is shattered when his wife is killed in a freak car accident involving the car being driven by alba bewick colliding with a very large rare bird. Having carefully staged their own death so that the decay that follows may be captured on film, we see how nature intrudes upon this scene and foils the effort. Guusje van tilborgh standing in a bathroom beside a sink, a guy leaning over to pull up her red dress to expose her bush before she slaps him and he drops it. The film opens with an automobileswan accident in front of the rotterdam zoo. Full of surprises and magnificent conundrums, a zed and two noughts is a perversely comic and teasing treat for the mind and senses.
Distant voices, still lives and a zed and two noughts. Full of surprises and magnificent conundrums, greenaways third feature is as perversely comic and teasing as it is shocking. Inside the rotterdam zoo which makes up the zed and two noughts of the title, near where the crash occurred, the grieving brothers brood over the causes of their wives deaths in this beautifullooking puzzle of a film. A zed and two noughts is a visceral and cerebral treat, as dead animals decompose to the jokey rhythms of michael nyman, symmetry is elevated beyond obsession, and sascha viernys cinematography pays homage to vermeer. A zed and two noughts, released in 1985, is probably the most clinical and abstract of his 80s films and on the surface the one thats most detached emotionally. A zed and two noughts is the tale of two separated siamesetwin zoologists oliver and oswald whose wives are killed in a swanrelated car accident. Alba bewick andrea ferreol is involved in a swanrelated car accident near the zoo. A masterpiece of modern cinema, a zed and two noughts is peter greenaways beautifully disturbing and darkly humorous take on erotic obsession and death. But i would be lying if i had a full understanding of either of them, and now that all the supplemental.
Peter greenaway after graduating from walthamstow college of art, he began a long period of employment as a film director and editor at the central office of information, a uk government department responsible for. Movie info this twisted black comedy is obsessed in turn with swans, twins, and decay. An atheist himself, greenaway here gives us a pessimism that cuts deep. My main reason for focusing on this one is that the imagery and concept is the one thats stuck in my head, as well as that ive sampled some dialogue from that was used in my set for the soft riot live show, the idea being to use various samples and interludes to allow enough time to set up the synthesizers for the next track. A woman loses a leg in a carcrash caused by a lowflying swan and. It is beautifully shot although i guess that is what you get for hiring. It is the brothers grief that leads to their fixation with natural decay of animal flesh. This film was greenaways first collaboration with cinematographer sacha vierny, who went on to shoot virtually all of greenaways work in the 1980s and 1990s, until viernys death. My main reason for focusing on this one is that the imagery and concept is the one thats stuck in my head, as well as that ive sampled some dialogue from that was used in my. Everything in this film is deliberate and meaningful, in contrast to life, or the view thereof it offers, anyway. Everytime i see a zed and two noughts i catch a phrase that i missed the double. Oliver deuce, a successful doctor, is shattered when his wife is killed in a freak car accident involving a car being driven by alba bewick colliding with a very large rare bird.