Each month, Melanie Friesen invites a distinguished guest to Vancity Theatre’s Cinema Salon, in order to present his/her favourite film. After the screening, both audience and speaker have the opportunity to engage over drinks and snacks in the Vancity lounge. This month’s film is Peter Greenaway’s The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover.
Often described as an allegory for Thatcher’s Britain, capitalism or consumer culture, this cinematic assault on the senses sets out to prove that we are cowardly, puerile animals, choking on our own waste and greed. But what a display of eating and sex, Jacobean drama, Dutch paintings and the theatre of cruelty. The lavish and opulent costumes, sets, and photography result in a style not seen before or since.
Wealthy über-pig Albert (Michael Gambon) drags his hapless wife (played by sexy Helen Mirren) and cronies to a fancy restaurant to humiliate everyone present. When he discovers that his wife is doing the wild thing in the toilet with a lover—hello shit, hello fan.
Genteel suggestion: Don’t eat before the screening.
This month’s Cinema Salon is hosted by Bruno Freschi, one of North America’s most honored architects. A UBC graduate with post-graduate studies at the Architectural Association in London, Freschi has practiced in Canada, the US, England, Italy and Switzerland. He served as senior associate on design teams for SFU, the BC Courts, and the Vancouver Art Gallery Master Plan. Freschi was awarded The Order of Canada as well as having held the position of Prof. Emeritus at State Univ. of New York.
In addition, Freschi is a leading proponent of the “integrated, transdisciplinary, and transcultural approach” to planning and sustainable, high-performance design. He utilized this approach at the Kyonggi University in South Korea, designed as Asia’s first “green” and global university.
He was the Chief Architect and Master Planner of the 1986 World Expo in Vancouver, and designed EXPO Centre (now Science World). His firm was responsible for Vision Master Plans for several waterfront cities in Canada.
Vancity Cinema Salon with Bruno Freschi Presents The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover
Date: Tuesday, March 5, 7:30 pm
Venue: Vancity Theatre, 1181 Seymour Street, Vancouver
Tickets: $13.00; may be purchased online
