Post by Capo on Jul 22, 2007 23:07:25 GMT
The Draughtsman's Contract
Peter Greenaway 1982 UK
In 17th Century aristocratic England, a draughtsman is hired to produce 12 drawings of a country estate before it changes hands, so long as he can have his way with the lady who owns it.
A delightfully acted film, a finely written film, a fast-paced romp and a visually disciplined one at that. Thematically dense, of course, as Greenaway's first venture into feature filmmaking, and so it is less abstract than his early shorts, but made with an arthouse flair which is a pleasure to watch: it's fresh, it's certainly original, it's rewardingly intellectual, and endlessly rewatchable. The most prominent question it raises (because, to Greenaway, cinema is a vehicle for, an art of, or mode of communication lending itself to, raising questions) is: does a painter paint what he sees or what he knows; and what starts as a rather eccentric blend of list-making (the protagonist goes through the rules for his twelve paintings with arrogant naivety) and matter-of-fact eroticism turns eventually, through a convoluted structure of events, into a ludicrous murder mystery.
Peter Greenaway 1982 UK
In 17th Century aristocratic England, a draughtsman is hired to produce 12 drawings of a country estate before it changes hands, so long as he can have his way with the lady who owns it.
A delightfully acted film, a finely written film, a fast-paced romp and a visually disciplined one at that. Thematically dense, of course, as Greenaway's first venture into feature filmmaking, and so it is less abstract than his early shorts, but made with an arthouse flair which is a pleasure to watch: it's fresh, it's certainly original, it's rewardingly intellectual, and endlessly rewatchable. The most prominent question it raises (because, to Greenaway, cinema is a vehicle for, an art of, or mode of communication lending itself to, raising questions) is: does a painter paint what he sees or what he knows; and what starts as a rather eccentric blend of list-making (the protagonist goes through the rules for his twelve paintings with arrogant naivety) and matter-of-fact eroticism turns eventually, through a convoluted structure of events, into a ludicrous murder mystery.