Description

A car collides with a swan outside a zoo. Two women passengers die but the driver, Alba Bewick survives with a leg amputation. 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.

As dead animals decompose to the playful rhythms of Michael Nyman, symmetry is elevated beyond obsession, and Sascha Vierny’s cinematography pays homage to Vermeer. Full of surprises and magnificent conundrums, Peter Greenaway’s third feature is as perversely comic and teasing as it is shocking.

• Full feature commentary with director Peter Greenaway
• Video introduction by Peter Greenaway (7 minutes)
• Extracts from ?O, Zoo! (Philip Hoffman, 1986, 7 minutes)
• Original theatrical trailer (3 Minutes)
• The Sea in Their Blood (Peter Greenaway, 1983, 28 minutes). Rarely seen COI film exploring Britain’s coastline with music by Michael Nyman
• A fully illustrated booklet featuring film notes, biography, review and interview