A Zed & Two Noughts **** (1985, Brian Deacon, Eric Deacon, Andréa Ferréol, Frances Barber, Jim Davidson) = Classic Movie Review 8654

Director Peter Greenaway’s 1985 film A Zed & Two Noughts is more like a diagram than a narrative, overflowing with symbols and puns, and underpinned by the memorable Michael Nyman soundtrack.

A surgeon covets the legs of his mistress, Alba Bewick (Andréa Ferréol), to the extent that he wishes to amputate them in homage to his favourite painter. She has recently been involved in a car crash with a white swan and two former Siamese twins Oliver and Oswald Deuce (Eric Deacon, Brian Deacon), zoologists who now decide that they would like to be reunited once more.

A Zed & Two Noughts may not sound like it, but it is more accessible than Greenaway’s later films, yet fuelled by the same desires to investigate areas understandably often left untouched. Memorable casting allows Frances Barber as Venus de Milo to have sexual designs on a giraffe and light comedian Jim Davidson to shine as a park keeper called Joshua Plate. British comedy stalwarts Ken Campbell and Geoffrey Palmer appear too.

Filmed at Amsterdam Zoo, A Zed & Two Noughts can be judged either clever and witty, or shocking and off-putting, depending on taste.

Also in the cast are Gerard Thoolen, Agnès Brulet, Guusje van Tilborgh, and Wolf Kahler.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8654

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