Watch The Draughtsman's Contract For Free

Wonderful Movie

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Don't bombarded me with how extraordinary, witty, intelligent....a masterpiece, or a must-see. This film actually is so pretentious, gave you an era of 17th century England, gave you a murder mystery, then in the end, another killing, gave you a naked guy in oily paint, urinating, mimic like a statue, sometimes on the roof, sometimes on a pedestal, or climbed on the gate. 12 paintings for 12 fornications with 6 each with the mother and the daughter. What were you trying to tell us? A screenplay mixed with ancient sex and murders? An early primitive porn movie in Shakespearean style? Or with Tudor touch? Yet this ridiculous movie has a magic power to make most reviewers wear an Emperor's Clothes, claiming how great, how deep, how intelligent this movie is. But I'd like to tell you, this film sucks big time! If you wanted to do a porn movie, show us some real flesh or meat, man. If you want to tell us a murder, show us some cunning moves how it was done. This film is like a fart, so stink, yet mucho reviewers told you it smelled so good and so lovely. No, it's NOT! It really stinks, man.

The Draughtsman's Contract contained a little special conditions; sometimes it was the draftsman himself who would establish the clauses and conditions and sometimes were the ladies who required him and his "services". The title of the film could have well been "The Draughtsman's pencil". The film is full of sexual / fruity symbolism, which complements a statue of a naked man which can be part of any landscape at any time. The movie also presents an outstanding scenery. Makeup and costumes are so excessive that they contribute visually to give a tone of something never seen before, although on the other side, the main plot is extremely vulgar with an outcome certainly as excessive as the rest of the work. The soundtrack by Nyman is not only a great contribution but sometimes eclipses everything by turning the images into a sort of video clip. It could be said that the features of Greenaway's works are similar to Andy Warhol insofar as their ideas for reinterpreting art can turn something vulgar into a fascinating item.

In the late 17th century a pompous and avaricious draughtsman, Mr Neville (Higgins), is hired by Mrs Herbet (Suzman) to sketch her husband's opulent manor (situated in Groombridge Place, in Kent) from differing viewpoints. In return, he demands an extravagant fee, use of their lodgings - and Mrs Herbert's sexual favours ("the maturing delights of her country garden").After getting entangled with Mrs Herbet's daughter, Mrs Talmann (a chilly Lambert), the exploiter becomes the exploited. Neville belatedly realises his employer's dark ulterior motive: to further the Herbert bloodline, and take the rap for the murder of Mr Herbet, the clues to which have apparently been revealed through his seemingly innocuous sketches. "Brilliant and archly humoured", said the Guardian; "a load of posturing poo-poo" according to fellow director Alan Parker. Which is it to be? Like much of Antonioni's canon, Greenaway's sour little truffles aren't exactly the warmest, most emotive of items, substituting cerebral and technical flair over the ability to make an audience laugh, cry, and generally punch the air and whoop for joy. Accordingly, most criticism of Greenaway's first feature (a transparent reworking of the aforementioned director's Blow Up in theme and execution) focused on The Draughtman's Contract's determinedly detached and studiously mannered quality - though rightly acknowledging the sumptuous photography, Michael Nyman's pounding score, borrowed from Purcell, and the wonderfully arch and playful script (triple-layered and authentically earthy by turn).Greenaway apologists will recognise the director's favoured themes of sex, death, female power play, and moral and physical decay (the latter most noticeable in the saturated cinematography, indicating all is far from stable in this Jacobean paradise). Newcomers may either be irritated beyond belief, or intrigued by what is essentially a philosophical meditation on fertility rites, the transient nature of perception, and class exploitation. Either way, it's an unforgettable experience.

Hugely enjoyable, if somewhat a tad too clever for its own good. A very good English director's attempt to be more continental, by being deliberately obscure, and throwing in large dollops of raunchy eroticism. Imagine if you will an episode of PBS's Mystery set during the Restoration, with a script by Einstein, and direction by Frederico Fellini.Two excellent stage actors - Anthony Higgins and Janet Suzman - in combination with the very sultry and seldom seen Australian actress Anne Louise Lambert, act their sexy sox off in this delightful delicate pastry of a movie. In the year 1694 an artist is commissioned to create a series of precise drawings of an enormous country house. The twist is that his agreed form of payment is most unusual.Michael Nyman's score is a careful, yet loud, modern arrangement with contemporary wind and string instruments. The photography by Curtis Clark is incredible, and these two creative artists convince you, you are in the 17th Century. The interior scenes are lit only by candlelight - as was also the case in Kubrick's superb historical masterpiece Barry Lyndon. This movie somehow combines elements of sophisticated themes of woman's self-empowerment, the inhumanity of the aristocracy, mathematics, and Benny Hill eroticism. Really rather wonderful and unique, but also in-retrospect, less than the sum of its parts. For a superior Peter Greenaway picture, try Drowning By Numbers, A Zed and Two Naughts, and The Cook, the Wife, etc..