A strange examination of death and decay that marks Peter Greenaway and Sacha Vierny’s lifelong collaboration
Movie
Netherlands, United Kingdom
English
Comedy, Drama
1985
PETER GREENAWAY
Andréa Ferréol, Brian Deacon, David Attenborough
115 min
TLDR
This is a very, very weird film.
What it's about
After their wives die in a car crash outside the zoo, twin zoologists Oliver and Oswald become obsessed with the accident, to the point that they embark on a strange affair with Alba, the now one-legged driver responsible for the crash.
The take
Normally, when your beloved wife dies in a car crash, you would be angry at the driver responsible, maybe even avoidant, sad, or incredibly triggered. Instead, in A Zed & Two Noughts, the twin zoologists with dead wives become addicted to the idea of life and death, obsessed with watching and rewatching the origins of life, captivated in photographing decay in time lapse, and strangely attached to the one-legged driver. Because of this, the film is quite bizarre, grotesque, and it definitely wouldn’t be for everyone, even for fans of Peter Greenaway. But the way it’s all filmed is striking, which is probably why Greenaway continued collaborating with cinematographer Sacha Vierny, until his death, and with the film’s unpredictability and excellent scoring, it’s hard to look away.