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The Belly of an Architect (DVD & Blu-ray) [1987]

Brian Dennehy , Chloe Webb , Peter Greenaway    Suitable for 15 years and over   DVD
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
Price: £17.75 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Frequently Bought Together

The Belly of an Architect (DVD & Blu-ray) [1987] + A Zed And Two Noughts [Blu-ray] [1985] [Region Free]
Price For Both: £27.75

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Product details

  • Actors: Brian Dennehy, Chloe Webb, Lambert Wilson
  • Directors: Peter Greenaway
  • Format: Dolby, PAL
  • Subtitles: English
  • Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Number of discs: 2
  • Classification: 15
  • Studio: Bfi
  • DVD Release Date: 18 Jun 2012
  • Run Time: 119 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B007C1WNB4
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 10,228 in Film & TV (See Top 100 in Film & TV)

Reviews

Product Description

THE BELLY OF AN ARCHITECT (DVD & Blu-ray)

A film by Peter Greenaway

World Premiere Blu-ray edition, and first time on DVD or Blu-ray in the UK for one of Peter Greenaway's most acclaimed films.

Brian Dennehy stars as the distinguished American architect Stourley Kracklite, in Rome with his young wife, Louisa (Chloe Webb), to supervise an exhibition devoted to his hero, the eighteenth-century architect Étienne-Louis Boullée.

Stourley honours the past at the expense of his present, driving the neglected Louisa into the arms of his rival, Caspasian (Lambert Wilson). Wracked with abdominal pains, jealousy and paranoia, he slowly loses his grip on all that is important to him.

One of the most visually striking films of the 1980s, with a celebrated score by Glenn Branca and Wim Mertens, The Belly of an Architect shows one of British cinema's true visionaries at the height of his powers.

Special Features

  • Presented in both High Definition and Standard Definition
  • Insight: Terence Conran (Peter Greenaway, 1981, 15 mins): portrait of the designer and entrepreneur with an uncredited score by Micheal Nyman
  • Fully illustrated booklet with newly essay, interview, biographies and credits by Michael Brooke, Donald Ranvaud and Marcia Landy
  • DVD-ROM content featuring original script, press pack and sheet music

UK, Italy /1987 /colour /English language, with optional hard-of-hearing subtitles /119 minutes /original aspect ratio 1.85:1

Disc 1: BD50 /1080p /24fps /PCM audio (48k/24-bit)

Disc 2: DVD9 /PAL /Dolby Digital audio (320kbps)

Product Description

United Kingdom released, Blu-Ray/Region B DVD: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), English ( Dolby Linear PCM ), English ( Subtitles ), WIDESCREEN (1.85:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Biographies, Blu-Ray & DVD Combo, Booklet, Cast/Crew Interview(s), Interactive Menu, Scene Access, SYNOPSIS: The American architect Stourley Kracklite has been commissioned to construct an exhibition in Rome dedicated to the architecture of Etienne-Louis Boullée. Doubts arise among his Italian colleagues to the legitimacy of Boullée among the pantheon of famed architects, perhaps because Boullée was an inspiration for Adolf Hitler's architect Albert Speer. Tirelessly dedicated to the project, Kracklite's marriage quickly dissolves along with his health. His physical and social ruin in some way corresponds to the decline of his idol Boullée, who remained relatively forgotten until the twentieth century. Kracklite becomes obsessed with the historical Caesar Augustus after hearing that Livia, the wife of Augustus, supposedly poisoned him. Kracklite assumes that his own wife Louisa has tried to do the same due to his increasing stomach pains. SCREENED/AWARDED AT: Cannes Film Festival, ...The Belly of an Architect ( Il ventre dell' architetto ) (Blu-Ray & DVD Combo) (Blu-Ray)

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Customer Reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5 stars
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Longing for his flat belly days? 22 Jan 2009
By Dennis Littrell TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:DVD
Perhaps it is a mid-life crisis and a fear of death that simultaneously hits Chicago architect Stourley Kracklite (Brian Dennehy). He has traveled to Rome to present an elaborate tribute to the French architect Louis Boullee. Kracklite is fifty-four years old, uncertain that he has fulfilled the promise of his youth. He is married to a woman (Chloe Webb) young enough to be his daughter. So when he begins to develop stomach pains (perhaps due to a growing stomach tumor) while working in Rome and gets no satisfaction from doctors, he begins to believe his wife is poisoning him. Furthermore it appears that she is having an affair with an Italian architect named Caspasian (Lambert Wilson) who also desires to take over Kracklite's Boullee project. I think a lot of men in their fifties can identify with these sorts of threats to their well-being and perhaps be unable to tell the real from the unreal.

So the human belly is a big deal in this film. At one point Kracklite prints out scores of photocopies of the belly of a Roman statue as if in scrutinizing mass copies of a flat belly he might somehow explain why he is in pain. Or perhaps the flat belly symbolizes his lost youth and the insecure feeling he has about the affection and faithfulness of Louisa, his young wife. Maybe it is even the case that the belly is a euphemistic symbol of something else that is no longer as vital as it once was. When men in their fifties worry about such things they also worry about their ability not just to cut the mustard but the quality of their work. In short, they worry about being superseded. One cannot help but feel in this case that Kracklite's growing paranoia is in part responsible for his declining power. Fear of something may give it strength.

As for the way cinematic auteur Peter Greenaway directs this film, I think his intent is to let the film reflect the subject matter in the sense that both are of artistic intent rather than the movie being a commercial enterprise. (That is perhaps an understatement.) He shows the beauty of the architectural ruins of Rome. He thinks in terms of tableaux in wide shots. He picks a backdrop and sets the camera at some distance from the backdrop: Italian ruins, a spacious lobby, expansive steps in front of an impressive building. And then he plays the scene. Unlike most modern directors he mostly eschews close-ups. I'd rather he didn't. The effect is like being in a theater watching a play. There is a certain appropriateness I suppose about this technique since it creates in the viewer a feeling of spying, which is exactly what Kracklite finds himself doing in one scene, looking through a keyhole to see what his wife and Capasian are doing; and Greenaway has us see too, at the same distance.

In another sense, there is a studied feel to this movie that suggests something a bit cold like marble which again is appropriate. Yet Brian Dennehy, in an intense, engaging performance, makes us feel for him and his predicament. We understand that he is realizing his mortality and we appreciate that his reaction is understandably confused and frightened. As for his wife, she seems distant not only because of the camera work but perhaps because she is psychologically estranged from her husband and from what he is going through.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A masterwork and a great edition 3 Aug 2012
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
This movie is, together with Fellini's La dolce vita, one of the strongest tributes to Rome. The "ethernal town" is rebuilt and reinvented by Greenaway to go straight to its core. The quality of picture and audio is stunning: the great cinematography and photography of the painter-director is fully preserved, including the original film grain. A must for all lovers of great cinema.
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3.0 out of 5 stars Belly badly pressed 23 May 2013
By 74prof
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Belly of the Architect is a good tour of Roman architecture. The extra feature is a grainy copy of UK tv feature on a designer. Not directly linked to the movie.

My physical copy is a bad pressing; it pauses and jumps forward several seconds at several locations.
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