The Draughtsman’s Contract 1982 M
The Draughtsman’s Contract 1982 M
16MM, COLOUR, MONO, 108 MINUTES, UK, ENGLISH, GERMAN, DUTCH (ENGLISH SUBTITLES) / DIRECTOR/SCRIPT: PETER GREENAWAY / CINEMATOGRAPHER: CURTIS CLARK / EDITOR: JOHN WILSON / ART DIRECTION: BOB RINGWOOD / MUSIC: MICHAEL NYMAN / COSTUME DESIGN: SUE BLANE / PRODUCTION CO: BRITISH FILM INSTITUTE, CHANNEL FOUR TELEVISION / PRINT SOURCE/RIGHTS: BRITISH FILM INSTITUTE / SCREENING FORMAT: 35MM
The Draughtsman’s Contract proposes itself as a conventional murder mystery, where everyone is guilty and yet where the real culprit is revealed to be our materialistic social system. The story revolves around the twelve drawings draughtsman Mr Neville (Anthony Higgins) is commissioned to execute for Mr Herbert’s estate. Implored by Mrs Herbert to complete the drawings so she can win back her husband’s affection, Mr Neville agrees under the stipulation she also make herself available for his own sexual satisfaction. Unlike Mrs Herbert, the beautiful country landscapes prove less compliant, and contrary to his instructions, anomalous objects being appearing in the scenery. Neville proceeds to draw exactly what he sees, unaware that his pictures hold clues for Mr Herbert’s murder. In The Draughtsman's Contract, Greenaway gives us the real landscape, the drawn landscape and its cinematic representation in circumstances that make the distinction between all ambiguous. While the plot constantly reminds us of what is left in and out of the drawings, Greenaway’s self-reflexive filmmaking style reminds the viewer that a similar process is at work in the film itself.
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