The Films of Peter Greenaway
Sex, Death and Provocation
Average rating:
0 | rating | ![]() |
0 | rating | ![]() |
0 | rating | ![]() |
0 | rating | ![]() |
Your rating: -
Book Presentation:
British filmmaker Peter Greenaway says life offers only two subjects: “One is sex and the other is death.” Greenaway uses both and romanticizes neither; indeed, his goal is the antithesis of the sanitary and sentimental portrayal of humanity. Although his films have met with outrage from some viewers, cult audiences praise them for insightful messages: that people are detached from violence because they fail to see others’ bodies as identical to their own; that predatory capitalism has caused humans to lose sight of our shared physicality and mortality; and that taboos are simply a system allowing people to exercise power over others.
This book examines nine of Greenaway’s feature films, dedicating a chapter to each: The Draughtsman’s Contract; A Zed and Two Noughts; The Belly of an Architect; Drowning by Numbers; The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover; Prospero’s Books; The Baby of Mâcon; The Pillow Book; and 8 ½ Women. The author examines the characters and plot, studies the structure and elements of the story, explores Greenaway’s motives and reactions, and reveals audience reactions, including comments from viewers. A filmography lists films written and directed by Peter Greenaway from 1962 to 2004.
About the Author:
Douglas Keesey is a professor of film and literature at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California. He lives in Cayucos.
Press Reviews:
"an excellently documented and reasoned dissection of Greenaway’s films"—Midwest Book Review.
See the publisher website: McFarland & Co
See the complete filmography of Peter Greenaway on the website: IMDB ...
> Books with the same or similar title:
> From the same author:
Jack Nicholson (2009)
by Douglas Keesey
(in English, French and German)
Subject: Actor > Jack Nicholson
> On a related topic:
Peter Greenaway (2000)
Interviews
Dir. Vernon Gras and Marguerite Gras
Subject: Director > Peter Greenaway
Adrian Brunel and British Cinema of the 1920s (2023)
The Artist versus the Moneybags
Subject: Director > Adrian Brunel
Diaspora and Cultural Negotiations (2022)
The Films of Gurinder Chadha
Dir. Shilpa Daithota Bhat
Subject: Director > Gurinder Chadha
The Films of Alan Parker, 1976–2003 (2015)
by David F. Gonthier Jr. and Timothy M. O’Brien
Subject: Director > Alan Parker
The Cinema of Basil Dearden and Michael Relph (2009)
by Alan Burton and Tim O'Sullivan
Subject: Director > Basil Dearden