The Draughtsman's Contract (1982)

Director:

Peter Greenaway

Writer:

Peter Greenaway (written by)

Release Date:

7 July 1983 (Australia)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery

Tagline:

A landscape of lust and cunning. [Video Australia]

Plot:

Mr. Neville, a cocksure young artist is contracted by Mrs. Herbert, the wife of a wealthy landowner...

Plot Keywords:

Artist | Contract | Drawing | Indignant | Dutch

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Anthony Higgins	...	Mr. Neville
Janet Suzman	...	Mrs. Herbert
Anne-Louise Lambert	...	Mrs. Talmann
Hugh Fraser	...	Mr. Talmann
Neil Cunningham	...	Mr. Noyes
Dave Hill	...	Mr. Herbert
David Gant	...	Mr. Seymour
David Meyer	...	The Poulencs
Tony Meyer	...	The Poulencs
Nicolas Amer	...	Mr. Parkes
Suzan Crowley	...	Mrs. Pierpont
Lynda La Plante	...	Mrs. Clement (as Lynda Marchal)
Michael Feast	...	The Statue
Alastair Cummings	...	Philip
Steve Ubels	...	Mr. Van Hoyten

Runtime:

103 min | Finland:109 min (1983)

Country:

UK

Language:

English | German | Dutch

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Italy:VM14 | Australia:M | Australia:MA (DVD rating) | Argentina:16 | Finland:K-16 | South Korea:18 | Sweden:11 | UK:15 | USA:R | Spain:13

Filming Locations:

Groombridge Place, Groombridge, Kent, England, UK

Company:

British Film Institute (BFI)

Trivia:

The movie was originally inspired by Peter Greenaway's attempts to draw a house he'd rented for a vacation and finding that the sun rising/falling changed the shadows and appearance too rapidly for a drawing to be completed in one sitting. He thus spent a specific period each day drawing the house from a specific angle (like the draughtsman in the movie).

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The cooing of a collared dove is not a sound that would have fallen on Jacobean ears, as the species was unknown in Britain until 1955.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Mr. Noyes: Mr. Chandos was a man who spent more time with his gardener than his wife. They discussed plum trees - ad nauseam. He gave his family and his tennants cause to dread September, for they were regaled with plums till their guts rumbled like thunder and their backsides ached from overuse. He built the chapel at Fouvant, where the pews are made of plumwood, so the tennants still have cause to remember Chandos through their backsides - on account of the splinters.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in A Cock and Bull Story (2005)

Soundtrack:

Bravura In The Face Of Grief

Master's Smile

The first Peter Greenaway's feature "The Draughtsman's Contract" (1982) - is absolutely delightful, devilishly clever (just imagine the best Agatha Christy's mystery with all sorts of clues and suspects but without Poirot or Ms. Maple to explain in the end whodunit and why. You are on your own to try to figure out - everything you need to know is right there), and funny (Yes, Greenaway can be funny!) art film - the perfect example of an art film. It combines the elements of social satire with murder mystery, meditates on the power of art and role of an artist, studies family drama and mothers – daughters love and understanding, perfectly wraps it in sensual pleasure - and what the pleasure it is. I know I will watch it again because it is a feast for eyes (I've seen big budget movies that looked plain comparing to this one shot on the limited funds), ears (Michael Nyman wrote one of the best score ever for this film) and for brain - there are mysteries and puzzles in every frame and in every dialog.

There is couple of Greenaway's thoughts on his first film and on the films that influenced him from the interview that was published in L'Avant-Scene Cinema", No 333, October 1984:

"Majority of my films may be viewed on several levels. Thus, in "The Draughtsman's Contract" there was the desire to open the symbolism of plants and fruits, to study the connections between the aristocrats and the common people, the conflicts between the worlds of gentlemen and of servants. With my films, I hope to generate interest, to stimulate imagination, to wake feelings...

I consider that 90% of my films one way or another refers to paintings. "Contract" quite openly refers to Caravaggio, Georges de la Tour and other French and Italian artists...

Before the work on the film began, I did not explain to film crew what I wanted, but I showed them five European films: "Fellini's Casanova", "The Last Tango in Paris" by Bertolucci, "The Marquise of O" by Eric Rohmer, "Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach" by Jean-Marie Straub and, most importantly, "Last Year at Marienbad" by Alain Resnais which has been the most influential film for me."