Customer Reviews

Zed & Two Noughts [VHS]

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

If you're looking for a movie to leave you with a warm, fuzzy feeling at the end...then this is not for you! It is a visual essay as much as it is an anthology of scientific and philosophical musings. The film is about two brothers - Oliver & Oswald Deuce (played by Eric & Brian Deacon), zoologists by profession, whose wives die in a car accident. The driver, Alba Bewick (played by Andrea Ferreol) ends up with an amputated leg. Oliver & Oswald in their quest for details about the accident end up in a three-way love affair with Alba. The brothers become obsessed with decay, while Alba becomes obsessed with her one leg and eventually has her doctor amputate it as well. After the accident, the brothers engage in philosophical and scientific conversations about the beginnings of life on earth, evolution and the mechanics of decomposition. Soon after the accident Oswald says "I can't bear the thought of her (his wife) just rotting away." Then the Deuce brothers begin a conversation about how the decomposition of a body begins, the intestinal bacteria that set off the process and how in one lick of the human tongue the are 100,000 of these bacteria. And how Adam might have passed 200,000 of them onto Eve in a French Kiss. Then one of them says "What if Eve kissed Adam?" - "Unlikely! She would have used the first 100,000 (bacteria) on the apple" This is absolutely hilarious... they are having a hypothetical conversation about Genesis as if Adam & Eve were the true origin of mankind, when in reality, as scientists they cannot take such religious concepts seriously. At one point Oliver is watching a film on the evolution of species and the narrator says "If evolution had happened in a span of 365 days, then, man made his first appearance on the evening of December 31 just as daylight is fading." We hear the narrator of these documentaries on evolution a number of times in the background, later we hear him saying "...it is difficult for people to comprehend the evolutionary leap between the most sophisticated of apes to MAN, and more difficult still how LIFE could emerge out of NOTHING." College-level biology students and philosophy students would enjoy this film. The contrast between the moral and the perverse becomes increasingly intensified in the film with the use of philosophical quotes and excerpts. For example, when we are introduced to a woman named Venus DeMilo, she's dressed in black going into the zoo (where the Deuce brothers work) and a man with whom she obviously had sexual encounters asks her "How are the zebras?" In a very indifferent tone she answers, "Black and White." That is a wordplay on the aristotelian, objectivist, Ayn Rand idea of the black and white, good and evil. Venus DeMilo makes it very clear she finds obejctivism tedious, and the question of whether the zebra is a "black animal with white stripes or a white animal with black stripes" is irrelevant. There is a scene in the film which I found particularly intriguing, Venus DeMilo and Oliver are naked on the bed (presumably after a sexual encounter) and he has a tray full of live snails. He plays with the snails while she rants on and on with superficial small talk. Then she asks, "Why do you like snails so much?" Oliver says, "They're a primitive form of life... they help the world DECAY! They're also hermaphrodite... they can satisfy their own sexual needs!" Which in the context of things could be taken to be an indicator of the degree of contempt he feels toward having to resort to her for sexual satisfaction. Later when he's visiting a recovering Alba, Oliver blames her for the death of his wife. At this time we learn that Alba was ten weeks pregnant. Olivers says "It's your fault my wife is dead. Pregnant women are notoriously unreliable...especially when they're trying to procure an abortion!" Later in the film, Alba announces to the brothers that she's pregnant. Oliver and Oswald want to know who the father is. Alba says, "As far as I'm concerned you are both the fathers...what's a few SPERMATOZOA among brothers?" Then while the three of them are in bed Alba announces to them that she can tell they are twins. Oliver and Oswald admit to it, saying that even their wives never knew they were twins, and furthermore they were siamese twins. A Zed and Two Noughts is deeply intellectual at times, very irreverent, silly, and hystecally funny. Goes over the top in just about every scene. Writer and Director Peter Greenaway is brilliant. I have seen two other films by him: Drowning by Numbers and Prospero's Books. Both were beautifully photographed as is A Zed and Two Noughts. Art students should enjoy Peter Greenaway's use of chiaroscuro in his sets, the atmospheres created in his films through the use of light and shadow are magnificent. The characters in the film are like caricatures, much like people in real life. The film blurs the line between humans as the superior creatures certain philosophies claim them to be and the primitive, hairless apes they remain at their very core...their self-awareness notwithstanding. This film is a must see for the Liberal Arts Student.

this is easily one of my favorite films. NO ONE I show it to seems to understand why. It is stunningly photographed, flawlessly executed, mind-numbingly cerebral. Symmetry freaks, watch this one closely! Peter Greenaway is not for those who just want to "take in a flick"...but everyone should watch at least one of his masterpieces.

I am very excited that Zeitgeist is putting out this new dvd transfer of this exceptional film. This is Peter Greenaway at his finest, his obsession with ordering lives and things and with the discovery of symmetries between the obsessions that drive both science and sexuality is perfectly meshed by the story of two twin zoologists who grieve the passing of their wives in a bizarre car accident by simultaneously embarking upon a quixotic research project into the nature of decomposition and an affair with the amputee who had been driving the car. Thrown into the mix are a storytelling prostitute and aspiring writer named Venus de Milo, a murderer of black and white animals, a man who lost his legs for loving horses a little too much, a surgeon who is overly fond of amputation and obsessed by Vermeer. The best cinematic comparison is probably Alain Resnais' My American Uncle -- both films raise questions about the pretense that we are above the animals, that we are rational creatures and are not driven by instinct and drive. This film argues, I think, that we are unique and interesting animals and at our most unique and distinctive when we show our obsession with and drive to establish our distinction from the other animals. The music throughout is perfect and matches the style and tone of the film superbly; the story, while utterly unique is nevertheless comprehensible and never less than fascinating. It is the kind of film that rewards repeated viewings, and is a must-see film for those who delight in the possibilities of cinema, and are willing to suspend their expectations and be caught up by the delightful imagination and insight of one of the most distinctive and compelling filmmakers.

The very first time I watched this film was not in a theatre but on a small black and white TV (at the time I was about 17 and still living with my parents, so what do you expect :-). It made a tremendous impression on me then and it's still my favorite film ever. The plot is rich and weird, the music addictive and the dialogues are both odd and witty. As you might expect of one of the early films by Greenaway, the alphabet plays a big part in this film. A film about the beginnings of life, birth, life itself, death and decay. Excellent usage of clips of natural history films with the distinctive voice of David Attenborough. There are many storylines in this film and there's a kind of character development you don't see to often in these modern times. Greenaway created an atmosphere I had never seen before in films and very few films are even coming close to it.

All in all, as you might have noticed, I'm a sucker for this film. I can recommend it to anyone. And hey, if you don't like the pictures, you can still play the DVD and not watch it, but enjoy the soundtrack.

Everytime I see A Zed and Two Noughts I catch a phrase that I missed the double meaning on the previous time I watched it. Perhaps the fascination of watching bodies decay clouds my perceptions. Perhaps the beauty of the photographic images by Sacha Vierny, The arresting music by Michael Nyman, or the insistent guiding hand of Director Peter Greenaway (who is creating his own cinematic alphabet here, later to be explored in his subsequent films, and drawing upon his wonderful short films and early opus The Falls) is too much for one viewing to contain! Or perhaps it is getting wrapped up in the same mystery that consumes the twin zoologists. Why death, and why a car accident involving a pregnant Swan on Swann's way, no less??!! Speaking of doubles, you have the twin brothers, their two dead wives, the two legless lovers, the doctor who is a descendant of the master forger (a great faker must be praised I guess!) Van Meegeren, himself a double (dubious) of the painter Vermeer,or the fact that there are Vermeers in the film, and they are doubled on camera in certain shots, and more and more...
Is this a waste of film? DEFINITELY NOT. You go into a film with the knowledge you have up to that point, and sometimes a film challenges you to rise to the occasion as opposed to talking down to an audience. This is not for people who think watching a movie means some quiet time and maybe a laugh or two. This is a film where you are constantly challenged to make observations and opinions based on what you are shown. There is a thesis here, and I am not sure whether it is an artistic thesis, a scientific thesis, a moral and ethical thesis, or all or none of the above, but what I do know is that this is one of the most challenging pieces of moving image I have ever seen (I have only seen about 1,600 films in my life, so I admit I have not seen that much), and it is easier to walk away from it then to stay and appreciate the rich complexities of knowledge this film draws from. The choice is yours but I highly recommend it for knowledge seekers.
The DVD is of great quality, and except for the lack of extras (I would have LOVED to have seen the trailer for this film), it is a worthy purchase.

I can't wait to see this video as it's been a long time since I saw this flick. I want to see if I still think the same way about it. Back then, I thought it was an all-time great, but I sure remembered having my thoughts scrambled. It's a nature-of-life questioning, clue-dropping, self-referential piece. The images and plot relationships to the images -- all bizarre -- are a constant puzzler. It was the kind of movie I liked, we'll see what happens when I see it again on video after the years have passed.

Filmed at the Rotterdam zoo, this is a classic Greenaway film and, yes, it's visually stunning (as many have observed). It seems obsessively concerned with symmetry as a means of both annoying and captivating the audience (which in a Greenaway film is ALWAYS a voyeuristic audience). A typical film by Peter Greenaway makes many people squirm in their seats. The zoo of the title (Z-O-O) is literally a place inhabited by both animals and humans notably and insanely deprived and damaged, the latter also exquisitely depraved and caught up in a web of deceit and slow-moving carnage. One is reminded of Dostoevsky's concept of hyper-consciousness (a sickly consciousness) as the characters slowly descend into the type of soup Greenaway excells at preparing; a delicious, malicious and toxic stew, one part debauchery to two parts neurosis.

Typical Greenaway fare? Not quite. In this film alone he has mastered the intricate webwork of plot, score and set while illustrating various abnormal conditions induced ostensibly by the close commingling of humans and caged wildlife. His macabre sense of humor is evident in the visual and monstrous passages where decay and amputation unsettle the strict and unrelenting symmetry of the sumptuous signature sets. The repetitive score - a minimalist thing by Michael Nyman - is as annoying as is it enchanting. The increasingly disturbing quest of the various misfits that inhabit the zoo - the film - slowly builds to a surreal tableau where a surgeon tries to recreate the pleasant quietism of Vermeer's paintings, twin zoologists collect and photograph decaying animals (harvested from the zoological collection), a crazed administrator(?) sets up a pregnant paramour (hitherto pornographic priestess) with a zebra, and a legless woman (victim of the opening car crash) plots her own end after giving birth to twins fathered by the twin zoologist brothers who are, in turn, obsessed with becoming siamese twins (with the help of the mad surgeon). It is all too much to absorb and Greenaway has spun such a fantastic tale not to dazzle the mind so much as the eye as he works his way through an abecedaria of zoological mischief - a treatise of sorts on the evolution of obsession and the onset of dementia.

This movie is one of those that stays in your mind for quite a while after you have seen it. It has a fairly bizarre plot and there is some gore but what you mainly take from it is the depth of the emotions. There is a lot of emotional pain and a lot of love but it is not expressed in the traditional movie ways. This is a movie you will want to see over and over again. I first saw it more than 10 years ago and have been seeking a copy since.

If you have a European or multi-region DVD player, get the BFI edition of this movie, which includes a director's commentary and introduction, trailers for this and The Draughtsman's Contract and extracts from a "making of" documentary.

The film itself? Brilliant, arch, beautifully photographed and probably Greenaway's most accessible work.

Amazon's listing is totally incorrect! This is the AMERICAN REGION 1 edition!!!

This is Peter Greenaway's wonderfully twisted black comedy that's obsessed with swans, death, decay and, of all things, twins. It's great pretzel logic fun on an incredible DVD to boot.