Overview
An artist's commission leads to a web of intrigue and dark secrets in a grand estate.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Moderate
- witty
- elegant
- erotic
- arthouse film night
- period mystery evening
What critics said
Critics broadly regard the film as an exceptionally elegant, smart, and original period mystery distinguished by Peter Greenaway’s formal precision and darkly erotic vision.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Neville's measured drawings, rigid camera compositions, and mannered staging create an overtly constructed visual world.
The drawing commission explicitly trades artistic labor for sexual access and expands through further propositions.
The estate's elegant household turns contracts, marriage, inheritance, and sexuality into instruments of exploitation.
Neville's twelve estate drawings acquire heightened significance after Herbert's body is discovered.
Films like The Draughtsman's Contract, and why
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover
formally controlled period mystery combining erotic intrigue, dark wit, and painterly visual design
Barry Lyndon
stylized historical drama built around literary dialogue, sexual power, and calculated social cruelty
Girl with a Pearl Earring
art-centered period mystery with elegant surfaces, hidden motives, and ambiguous interpretation
Movie Details
- Director
- Peter Greenaway
- Release Date
- 1982-11-12
- Runtime
- 108 min
- Rating
- 7.1 / 10 (276)
Cast
- Anthony Higgins
- Janet Suzman
- Dave Hill
- Alastair G. Cumming
- Anne-Louise Lambert
- Hugh Fraser
- Neil Cunningham
- David Meyer
- Tony Meyer
- Nicholas Amer
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Kino Film Collection
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is The Draughtsman's Contract about?
- A swaggering artist’s meticulously contracted drawings expose the lethal games of sex, property, and power inside a seventeenth-century English estate.
- What is The Draughtsman's Contract like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The Draughtsman's Contract as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is The Draughtsman's Contract violent?
- Somewhat. Ember rates the violence in The Draughtsman's Contract as moderate.
- What did critics think of The Draughtsman's Contract?
- Critics broadly regard the film as an exceptionally elegant, smart, and original period mystery distinguished by Peter Greenaway’s formal precision and darkly erotic vision.
- Which films are like The Draughtsman's Contract?
- Films with a similar feel include The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, Barry Lyndon, and Girl with a Pearl Earring.
- How long is The Draughtsman's Contract?
- The Draughtsman's Contract runs 108 minutes.
- Where can I watch The Draughtsman's Contract?
- In United States, The Draughtsman's Contract streams on Kino Film Collection.
