“The boldest and arguably one of the best of Peter Greenaway’s fiction features . . . Sacha Vierny’s cinematography makes it so luscious that you may be mesmerized in spite of yourself. The title refers to a European zoo; the curious plot involves two brothers who work as the zoo's curators and who lose their wives in a freak auto accident. Only partially a narrative film, this elegant puzzle also involves amputees, painting, a ménage à trois, and decomposing animals—along with many other things—which are intricately interrelated thanks to Greenaway's icy brilliance” (Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader). “As usual with Greenaway, the ideas are large and perverse; and they are teased out with the exquisite formal perfection of a court minuet. Moreover, he frames, colors, and shoots with precision. A film with all the cool, intellectual thrill of the Kasparov-Karpov game” (Chris Peachment, Time Out).

• Written by Greenaway. Photographed by Sacha Vierny. With Andréa Ferréol, Brian Deacon, Eric Deacon, Frances Barber. (113 mins, Color, 35mm, From Zeitgeist)