Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4672 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-02-23
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Dubbed, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: Dutch, English, German
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 104 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
"I try very hard never to distort or dissemble," says Mr. Neville (Anthony Higgins), a draughtsman of considerable talent contracted by a certain Mrs Herbert (Janet Suzman) to make 12 drawings for her absent husband of their English estate. Part of that contract involves Mr Neville taking his pleasure with Mrs Herbert. While Mr Neville aims for fidelity in his drawings, infidelity in private is quite another matter. The film becomes a cerebral puzzle when objects start appearing mysteriously in the subjects of Mr Neville's various drawings: a ladder that wasn't there before, a pair of boots standing in a field. Mr Neville's penchant for realism is stymied by these clues, which may or may not suggest the murder of Mr Herbert. Peter Greenaway seems to have directed this, his first art-house success, with the aim of exploring the failings of perspective in art and casting his doubtful eye on the possibility of "faithful" drawings such as those by which Mr. Neville makes his living. Greenaway was, after all, an art student, and must have known that drawing machines like the one Mr Neville uses in the film (which is set in 1694) led not only to the invention of photography, and therefore of film itself, but also to the renouncing of perspective that informs so much of 20th-century painting.

In the film, Greenaway overlays the story's mysterious elements with highly mannered tableaux, shooting each scene like a realistic, though sumptuous, painting, while his actors spout witty and complicated sentences, suggesting the falseness of surfaces. Mr Neville's faith in surface is his downfall, and Greenaway's triumph is in his distortions and dissemblings, the narrative lie that gets closer to the truth than any architectural drawing could. --Jim Gay, Amazon.com

Synopsis
Set in Wiltshire in 1694, on the country estate of Mr and Mrs Herbert, this erotic murder mystery is Greenaway's lavish breakthrough creation as director. The Herbert's are having some marital difficulties, so he decides to take a two week holiday by himself. To surprise him on his return, Mrs. Herbert commissions an effete artist to draw twelve portraits of her estate. The artist agrees on the condition that he may sexually exploit Mrs. Herbert's body for those two weeks, she accepts his condition and he sets to work around the beautiful, formal and manicured grounds. When Mr. Herbert is found dead in his own moat at the end of those two weeks, the artist is the prime suspect, and Mrs. Herbert believes the mystery can be solved by close examination of the drawings the artist has done. With extravagant costumes, witty indulgent dialogue, impeccable production and a score by long-time collaborator Michael Nyman, THE DRAUGHTSMAN'S CONTRACT is a veritable feast for the senses.

Customer Reviews

requires a real Eye for Optical Theory...
The Draughtsman's Contract is one of the great British films... a wonderful fusion of baroque 17th century mystery, with pop art sensibilities and a plethora of arcane references to neo-classical literature & art. All of Greenaway's principal trademarks are here, with infidelity, jealousy, revenge and vulgarity acting as the lynchpins of the multi-layered narrative... whilst the lushness of the design and the ornate perfectionism of the mise-en-scene certainly acts as a foundation for later works such as the Cook the Thief his Wife & her Lover, and the more similar parable, 8 ½ Women. It is a film rich in intricate details that make it impossible to forget; with the filmmaker creating a multi-faceted story which encompasses everything from high-tragedy to high camp - sort of Barry Lyndon meets Blackadder - whilst also playing with the notions of self-reference... both in terms of the knowing dialog and in the intricate visual design (Greenaway filling the screen with windows within windows leading in and out of worlds within worlds).

The plot is always unfolding, often subtly, with Greenaway never signposting events; always confident with the subjective power of the film to let his camera drift over the lush-vistas of the English countryside as Michael Nyman's grandiose-Purcell-influenced score resonates beyond the cinematic framework, to give the film an even greater sense of playfulness and frivolity. The acting is fairly standard, though this has never been a great concern for Greenaway, who instead is more interested in playing witty and arcane cinematic tricks with the audience, such as layering clues to the mystery within swathes of seemingly banal dialog and the almost two-dimensional compositions (created to mirror the sketches created by the titular draughtsman). This was a real turning point in Greenaway's career as a filmmaker, as it is his first example of a narrative film, after years of short, conceptual doodlings (c.f. Dear Phone, A Walk Through H, and Water Wrackets), and is a definite precursor to future classics like A Zed & Two Noughts, Drowning By Numbers and The Cook The Thief His Wife and Her Lover.

The disk, released by the BFI, is lovingly created... with a real sense of input from the usually reserved Greenaway. Here we find an extensive director's commentary in which the filmmaker discusses the intellectual complexities of the script, his varying inspirations, and the various narrative layers, as well as the process of shooting his first film in general. There are also archive-deleted scenes, a filmed introduction with Greenaway in the style of Prospero's Books, an interview with Michael Nyman, details of the re-mastering process and a collection of hidden-features. The screen transfer, in it's original 1:66.1 aspect ratio, and the crystal clear sound gives the film a whole new lease of life, allowing us to appreciate Greenaway's evocative framing and subtle use of sound-design all the more. Some have argued that the Draughtsman's Contract - like the majority of Greenaway's back-catalogue - is an elitist film, the type of which can only be enjoyed on a purely artistic level. I would disagree.

The Draughtsman's Contract is one of THE great British films: funny, witty and deeply interesting... in a way that future Greenaway films (or most other UK films for that matter) could only dream of.

The masterpiece of a flawed genius
The current obsession for non-stop action films with music video style editing, bland dialogue, by-the-numbers soundtracks, actors whose salaries are in inverse proportion to their talent and formulaic cinematography makes it is hard to believe how different cinema was back in 1982 when "The Draughtsman's Contract" hit the big screen.

It was a superb cinematic event then and the recent release of a digitally enhanced DVD marvelously re-captures the feeling. An excellent, informative director's commentary is the highlight of the DVD extras.

What makes it a great film? Firstly every component part, every individual involved, is out of the top drawer or at the peak of their powers. The atmosphere is extraordinary. Never has the English landscape played a greater role. Never has dialogue been more carefully crafted to create the mood of the time. Never has a painter's skill been so well brought to the creation of cinematic images. And the Michael Nyman soundtrack, a marvelous creation echoing Henry Purcell is, for me, unsurpassed - even by Morricone's haunting "Mission". It is a film to be watched with all your faculties concentrating fully and your efforts will be rewarded.

What's it about? In 1694 a confident young draughtsman of some talent eventually agrees to draw ten pictures of a country house for the wife of its owner in exchange for eight pounds a drawing, bed and board for himself and his servant, and ten private liaisons with the wife for sex. He is amazed when his terms are accepted as he made them extortionate not really wanting the commission. From that introduction Greenaway leads us - via beautiful lighting, exquisite camerawork, outstanding dialogue and excellent performances from an underrated cast - to intrigue, murder, politics, religion, pomegranates and a shocking denoument.

Watch it as a murder mystery, and it is very good - obscure clues and red herrings. Watch it as a perfect cinematic portrayal of an english country house at a turning point in English history as its images will delight you. Watch and marvel at how long Greenaway's scenes can be without a single movement of the camera. But above all WATCH IT.

I admire several other Greenaway films, particularly Belly of an Architect and Drowning by Numbers, (though not The Cook, The Thief, etc.) but none compares with this.

If you read my review Mr. Greenaway, thanks for an absolute masterpiece which I finally own - after a "J R Hartley-esque" search for several years. But tell me, is there really a four hour version somewhere? Now I don't suppose I could have sight...

English Masterpiece
When it was released in 1982 The Draughtsman's Contract was unique - still is. Oh yeah, there was Kubrick's staid adaptation of Barry Lyndon with its sui generis lighting and slow, slovenly pace much admired by Scorcese, but Greenaway's film was considerably different. There was no reverend text to follow, nor was this a film about Kings and Queens playing bedroom gambits or being liberal with the choppping block (see Carry on Henry). This was utterly original. The sense of place and time are remarkable. The use of landscape (so few British films have any use for the English countryside) is extraordinary. The music is a revelation. The acting is top - Anthony Higgins gives a performance not unlike Nyman's music, all swagger and irony. The dialogue, whilst arch and puffy in places, is even quotable. Did I mention the photography, the costumes: fantastic.
The DVD restoration work is exemplary - have the black areas on this film ever been so black! The extras are interesting, though not exhaustive. And from what I've heard of the commentary, it is, unlike so many easy-money wordless hour and a halfs (no, not halves, think about it), delivered by a director that not only adds to what he's talking about, but begins to become interesting in his own right.

So, okay, Greenaway dropped the ball pretty quickly, but he never scampered into novel writing (Parker, you fraud!) and he had the vision to praise Blue Velvet on TV in the mid-eighties whilst everyone was whining that it was a bit much (So you liked A Room with a View and Letter to Breshnez did you?).

I adore this film and have no trouble with its idiosyncrasies; in fact, I would be amazed to find a film I adored in which I did not find any idiosyncrasies, and so I award this the maximum five stars. This is not a film for everyone, but then, you are not everyone.