Controversial director
Peter Greenaway returns to the screen after the critical drubbing he received after 8 1/2 Women (1999). A staging of an opera he wrote in 1994, this work covers the lives and mysterious deaths of ten composers (both real and fictional) from Anton Weber in 1945 to
John Lennon in 1980. The opera focuses on fictitious composer number six, Juan Manuel de Rosa. Reconstructing his life leading up to the composer's death in the Uruguayan desert in 1952, the film primarily takes place in a slaughterhouse where Rosa lived and worked. Married to the slaughterhouse owner's daughter Esmeralda, the couple at first makes love constantly, until Rosa becomes transfixed by a horse. In spite of Esmeralda's weird attempts to render herself equine, Rosa's sexual obsession remains unmoved. Typical of the director, the film incorporates a number of baroque devices including screen insets, scrolling text, and naked dancers in grease paint. This film was screened at the 1999 Venice Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide