Instant Favorite.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Blistering performances.

Having seen Peter Greenaway's The Cook the Thief His Wife & Her Lover, I knew I was in for an intense sensual experience with crude symbolism and even cruder people. A Zed & Two Noughts is a film about symmetry, about its dependence and complimentary tendencies, accidental/natural or intentional/forced. The twins become obsessed with the search of purpose in randomness and therefore especially the meaning for coincidence and symmetry. Although they come up empty handed, there are some profound ideas in there, with nine months for a baby to be born and then nine months for a body to decay. The arresting visuals reflect the use of symmetry with elaborate sets designed as reflections. It has a David Lean level of lushness as the cameras glide through the elegantly coloured sets, as well as featuring time lapses of decaying food and animals, closeups of painting and nature documentary footage, narrated by David Attenborough.Although it has shocking drama and daring tragedy (a woman voluntarily having a second leg amputated then regretting it, a dalmatian shown rotting) it does have a key sense of humour that keeps it from being dreary. It mostly comes from Greenaway's obsession with obscenities clashing within upper class etiquette, particularly with sex, which gives the film more shock value though is never vulgar for the sake of vulgarity. It has an incredibly haunting score by Michael Nyman, who also did the one for The Cook the Thief His Wife & Her Lover, and this one may be even more intense due to the films freakish nature. Of which the script is full of twists of turns of phrases and wordplay to apply to the bizarre scenarios in the film, which isn't always as intelligent as it appears to be. The film has a bad habit of relying on characterisations rather than characters, and it took far too long for its protagonists and primary supporting characters to be fully fleshed out and developed beyond caricatures. It's main downfall is it's far too urgent. Scenes are rushed and sequences hurried with barely any scenes properly savoured enough to soak in the flavour of the film. It gives the film a vignette feel which I didn't think the film needed and a resolution without real closure. Though I guess this exactly fits into its theme of chaos and the meaning of it all.8/10

I knew how strange and unusual Greenaway could be but Zed, I believe could take the cake :). I am not sure what it is all about but I still enjoy the triumvirate Greenaway - Sasha Verny- Michael Nyman. Some ideas and images Greenaway will use in the later "8 1/2 women" and "The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover" - especially, the soundtrack. "Dead Ringers" and "Mon oncle d'Amérique" (two beautiful weirdnesses themselves) also come to mind while watching Greenaway's elegant tale of decomposing which is also his meditations about life, death and grief. As in earlier "The Draughtsman's Contract (1982), Greenaway explores the relationship between the close relatives - the twin brothers are in the center of "A Zed & two Noughts". The movie is also a modern retelling of an ancient myth about Leda and Zeus who took the form of a swan and slept with Leda on the same night as her husband, King Tyndareus. Leda bore Helen and Polydeuces, children of Zeus while at the same time bearing Castor and Clytemnestra, children of her husband Tyndareus, the King of Sparta.Greenaway considers that 90% of his films one way or another refers to paintings. "A Zed & two Noughts" refers openly and with great admiration to the paintings of Johannes Vermeer van Delft."A Zed & two Noughts" is not easy film to watch, its characters are not sympathetic, it lacks warmth and sentimentality but as always in Greenaway's films, it is a feast for eyes, ears, and for brain.7.5/10

Two twin zoologist brothers, both loose their wives in a car accident. The car hits a swan while on Swan lane. The driver Alba Buick looses her leg. Both brothers have an affair with Alba, all while they are researching the decay of animals.Then there's Venus De Milo, a prostitute obsessed with zebras and dirty bestiality stories. "A Zed and Two Noughts" is another complex mind puzzle from Avant-Garde director Peter Greenaway. The film deals with decomposition of animals and Symmetry. Even on the screen the composition is symmetrical. And since the film is about symmetry, Alba decides to give up her other leg to a crazed doctor obsessed with amputation. It sounds disturbing, but really the film is beautiful to look at. It has stunning cinematography by Sacha Vierney, and a hypnotic musical score done by composer Micheal Nyman. Greenaway is a visionary in mind-games, and the film is very complex even after repeated viewings.

I saw A ZED AND TWO NOUGHTS in the spring of 1987 . I read in the tv guide that this film " Contains scenes that some viewers may find disturbing " . Great I thought , this mean`s that it`s gonna be a gritty hard hitting film just like SCUM or APOCALYPSE NOW or all these other films that contain the warning " Contains scenes that some viewers may find disturbing " . So I sat down to watch it and was disgusted by what I saw . What a load of pretentious anally retentive crap ! Who the hell wants to watch vegetable matter and dead animals decompose ? Come on put your hands up . People who admit to liking this film are just kidding themselves on , they`re showing off big time by pretending to be intellectuals . Obviously working class scum like myself and most other people who watch movies are too thick to recognise ZOO as being a wonderful piece of art . And you know what ? I`m glad about that . It`s not often I give a film a 1 on the IMDB but that`s what I`m giving ZOO . On an entertainment level it deserves 0 . Or should that be a NOUGHT ?