The Draughtsman's Contract (1982) on Netflix
Mr Neville, a conceited young artist, is hired by Mrs Virginia Herbert to draw her husband's country house while Mr Herbert is away. Payment includes her compliance with his sexual demands.
- Netflix2.9/5
- IMDb7.2/1012,120 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes97%
Trailer
Plot summary
England, 1694. Mr Neville, a young and conceited artist, agrees to make twelve drawings of the country house, gardens and outbuildings of Mrs Virginia Herbert, intended as a gift for her husband, a cold and neglectful man who is away on business. The terms of the commission go beyond money: Mrs Herbert is to comply with Neville's sexual demands, and while he works at the estate they meet in private, she unwilling, he insensitive to her distress. His manners make him disliked among the household and its guests, and Mr Talmann, Mrs Herbert's son-in-law, dislikes him especially. Mr Talmann's wife, Mrs Herbert's daughter, is married and has no children.
Cast
- Neil Cunninghamas Thomas Noyes / Mr Noyes
- Nicholas Ameras Mr Parkes (as Nicolas Amer)
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Draughtsman's Contract (1982)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The original cut ran about three hours, with an opening scene of about 30 minutes in which each character talked at least once with every other character; Peter Greenaway then edited it down to 103 minutes, possibly to make the film easier to watch.
- Some anomalies in the longer version are deliberate anachronisms: the use of a cordless phone in the 17th century, and paintings by Peter Greenaway in emulation of Roy Lichtenstein hung on the walls of the house, partly visible in the released version.
- Peter Greenaway originally requested a modest £60,000 to make the film and planned to shoot on black-and-white 35mm film and print on to color stock to "find a visual equivalent for the black and white world the film's main character draws in black on white paper".
- The film was the first co-production between the British Film Institute and the newly-established Channel 4, with both providing £150,000 of funding.
- Peter Greenaway, who trained as an artist before becoming a filmmaker, got the idea while spending three weeks drawing a house near Hay-on-Wye on a family holiday, working on a particular view at a set time each day to preserve the lighting, much like Mr Neville in the film.
- The ground for one of the score's most popular pieces, "An Eye for Optical Theory", is considered to have probably been composed by William Croft, a contemporary of Purcell.
- The hands shown drawing in the film are director Peter Greenaway's own, as are the completed drawings seen on screen.
