Trust director Peter Greenaway, who made The Draughtsman's Contract and Drowning by Numbers, to produce a film that was at once the most stylish and repellent of its year. Vulgarity is the keynote and no opportunity is missed to underline it, from the continuous sex and violence, to the crass opulence of the restaurant where it all takes place. Michael Gambon, whose character would in real life be guaranteed to empty for weeks any restaurant at which he ate, is a disgusting gangster who 'dines' at the Hollandais (which he owns) with his much-beaten wife (Helen Mirren). When she spies a bookseller (Alan Howard) across the vomit on the red plush, it's lust at first sight. When Gambon finds out, the film finally fulfils its promise of something to offend everyone. Michael Nyman's score is his best to date, Greenaway takes it all full-tilt and head-on and Mirren and Howard, who have to perform most their scenes in the nude, give service above and beyond the call of duty. Don't eat anything for 24 hours before you see it.