The Draughtsman's Contract

Synopsis: Mr. Neville, a cocksure young artist, is contracted by Mrs. Herbert, the wife of a wealthy landowner, to produce a set of twelve drawings of her husband's estate, a contract which extends much further than either the purse or the sketchpad. The sketches themselves prove of an even greater significance than supposed upon the discovery of the body of Mr. Herbert.
Genre: Comedy, Drama, History
Director(s): Peter Greenaway
Production: Channel 4
  1 win & 3 nominations.
 
IMDB:
7.3
Rotten Tomatoes:
100%
R
Year:
1982
108 min
1,816 Views


Mr. Chandos was a man

who spent more time...

...with his gardener

than with his wife.

They discussed plum trees...

...ad nauseam.

He gave his family and his

tenants cause to dread September...

...for they were regaled with

plums until their guts rumbled like...

...thunder and their backsides

ached from over-use.

He built the chapel at Fovant...

...where the pew

seats were of plumwood...

...so the tenants still have cause

to remember Chandos...

...through their backsides...

...on account of the splinters.

At last the glittering...

... Queen of Night...

... with black caress...

... kills off...

... kills off the day.

Some years ago two gentlemen

went back to Amsterdam...

...saying that Allhevinghay

was just like home.

There was so much water...

...so many ornamental ponds,

so many canals...

...so many sinks and basins.

There was even a wind pump.

What they had not realised was...

...my father had made

his land into a pattern...

...of reservoirs...

...because he was terrified of fire.

There was even a room

under the front stairs...

...that housed two hundred buckets...

...all of them filled with water.

I know because

whenever I was taken short...

...my brothers and I used

to rush in there and use them.

Those buckets were

filled before my mother died.

I expect them to be still there...

...with the same water of thirty years

ago I shouldn't wonder...

...mixed with a

little of myself, of course.

I used to pee like a horse.

I still do.

For those that walk...

... that walk...

... with hopeful step...

... in garden...

... in garden...

... in garden...

... love to find.

At Southampton there's

a house I've admired...

...because from the

side it looks so flat.

It is of white Portland stone...

...and on a cloudy

day it looks as though...

...it might be attached to the sky.

Especially in the evening.

Its owner is a Miss Anterim.

She is a lady without a husband.

From the side Miss Anterim is also...

...a lady without significance.

Maybe that is why unlike her house...

...the lady is unattached.

What with one flatness

and another, Mr. Neville...

...as a painter

and as a draughtsman...

...you could be entertained.

Especially in the evening...

...from the side.

For those that walk...

... that walk.

It is said that the Duc de

Courey invited his water mechanic...

...to the top of an elaborate

cascade he had built...

...and asked him if he could

build such a marvel for anyone else.

The man, after offering

various thanks and pleasantries...

...admitted that with sufficient

patronage he probably could.

The Duc de Courey pushed him

gently in the small of the back...

...and the wretched man

plummeted to a watery death.

Their hope to find success.

They're sure to make.

Mr. Noyes...

...do you have a

ribald piece of gossip for me?

I am here to fulfill a role

as entertainer, so I am sure...

...that I could find

something for you.

Then you are here on merit.

A characteristic that the

company does not share...

...being here merely to express

confidence in one another's money.

You are one of the company.

My merititious conduct in

the company of Mr. Seymour...

...has been my invitation.

I am strictly not of the company...

...but a part of its property.

Since that's what the company is

here to discuss and to revel in...

...you should be well favoured.

I would well favour you myself

above two parterres and...

...drive of orange trees.

You are not extravagant in

your compliments, Mr. Noyes.

I'm not wealthy enough

to offer you more...

...but I intend to be so soon.

In the present company of 13...

...that owns a fair slice of England.

Two parterres and a drive of

orange trees is a beginning...

...and being a lady

of the Italian fashion.

You will appreciate

the value of oranges.

They smell so sweet.

They are so invigorating.

The very statues...

... breathe.

Do you think your father will ask Mr.

Neville to draw the house?

Why not improve Mr. Neville's chances,

and yours, by inviting him yourself?

That is a too imaginative

stratagem for me.

Your father would find it

uncharacteristically bold.

Then you could surprise him...

...and perhaps surprise

Mr. Neville, as well.

And if that frightens you, mother...

...we could lay the

blame on Mr. Neville.

I hold the delight or despondency

of a man of property...

...by putting his house

in shadow or in sunlight.

Even possibly...

...I have some

control over the jealousy...

...or satisfaction of a husband...

...by depicting his wife...

...dressed or undressed.

Mrs. Clement asked

me if I had a wife...

...which has a ring of impertinence.

She knows I have a garden, how

doesn't she know I have a wife?

Perhaps because you

boast of one and not the other.

But I suspect a sense of

modesty is an impertinence...

...to such a lady as Mrs. Clement.

Your mother takes a sense of

modesty an unprecedented distance.

Why doesn't she come out more?

She frets in the shadows.

She does not fret, father...

...or if she does you well

know the cause is your indifference.

A house, a garden, a horse, a wife,

the preferential order.

Nonsense!

I am anxious, Mr. Neville...

...that you should

draw my husband's estate.

Why is that Madam?

My husband is a proud man delighted

to be associated with every brick...

...and every tree of his property at

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Peter Greenaway

Peter Greenaway, CBE (born 5 April 1942 in Newport, Wales) is a British film director, screenwriter, and artist. His films are noted for the distinct influence of Renaissance and Baroque painting, and Flemish painting in particular. Common traits in his film are the scenic composition and illumination and the contrasts of costume and nudity, nature and architecture, furniture and people, sexual pleasure and painful death. more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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