'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. 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. I am not sure what it is all about but I still enjoy the triumvirate Greenaway - Sasha Verny- Michael Nyman. I knew how strange and unusual Greenaway could be but Zed, I believe could take the cake :). Before viewing, it helps to view the 26 Vermeer paintings. One twin searches it for the red herring among the clues, the red herring that explains the trumping of randomness over purpose. The only such effort is the thread of a film about the origin of life that is interwoven. But with this film, he has temporarily abandoned the layering and successive self-referential annotation that is his most unique contribution to the art. `The Falls' is a must, but takes discipline. I rank this with `The Draughtsman's Contract,' and `Drowning by Numbers ' all three have concessions to an understandable narrative. `Prospero's Books' and `The Pillow Book' are the most accomplished without compromise. Which is the best Greenaway? This is the best start, I think. A good Greenaway is something to be relished. This is a wonderful film, much richer symbolically than `Cook,' a stronger narrative than `Drowning,' better photography and music than `Belly,' of the following year. Pretentious? Preposterous? Predicatory? Naah. It is just a framework for lush compositions and an ornate allegorical framework. siamese twins fathering twins, bias against black and white animals, a crooked vet who is a Vermeer counterfeiter, and multiple suicides all to children's music. Cosmetic amputation, timelapse of rotting corpses.

A zed and two noughts