Every single frame is a feast for the eyes. The wonderful soundtrack and interesting script add on to the delight.

Lavish and layered period mystery. The Draughtsman's Contract is driven by witty and multi-faceted (and often comical) dialogue. The grandiose characters, extravagant costumes, and perfectly fitting soundtrack (as is expected now of Greenaway) also lend a hand in making this film another classic Peter Greenaway delight.

Greenway at his trickiest

very enjoyable, although murder mystery is probably not greenaway's strong point. loved the dialogue and music, and the whole weirdness of it

A carefully constructed allegory about... something.

For the first half-hour or so everything's fine, as Greenaway here has evidently decided to tell an anti-Jane Austen story. After that it becomes progressively duller

After reviewing this mystery story I realize how balloney it is. Costumes, dialogue, mystery, drawings and plot are all fine (for the first half an hour). After that everything is darn boring. In this length the movie is just waste of time. Lots of unrelated/extented scenes.

This was lovely to look at and quite intriguing but the endless waffle made me lose interest half way through. It may merit another viewing.

As usual, Greenaway has left me completely flattened with his visual prowess and general mastery of the arts and has convinced me with absolute certainty that I'm not smart enough to review his film. So I won't. I'll just take my feeble brain and be on my mediocre way.

So i guess Greenaway pretty much represents everything i used to hate in movies that now i've learned to love? Yes it is completely soulless, but this is like the pinnacle of self-conscious artifice and deadpan wit.

# 852

A really solid murder mystery with a lot of rich allegory to mine. The dialog and strategical tit-for-tat is well written. There's a lot to dissect for the discerning observer. The Statue is the best character (period)

I liked this mainly for the amazing visuals and Nyman soundtrack. Russell Brand devoted his life to it.

The only one of Peter Greenaway's movies about which I can say that I actually enjoyed it. May deserve 80.

"A puzzle book for intellectual aesthetes." - Jeremiah Kipp

05 nisan 2011, 30. ist. film fest. & garip olay zincirleriyle ilerleyen ve seyircinin yonunu, yolunu kaybetmesini saglayan garip bir film. filmin tahrik edici bir yani da var. sevisme sahneleri gosterilmese de ya baslangiclarina ya da sonucuna taniklik ediyoruz ve bu anlar, sevismenin kendisinden daha tahrik edici oluyor. sevismenin baslangicini goruyoruz ve ardindan kesme ile meni kusan bir kadini goruyoruz. bu goruntu bir anda belki de sinema tarihindeki en tahrik edici sey oluyor.

Kind of tiring. The usual decadence and attention to details is great.

Beautiful, but also boring. Too pompous for me.

Greenaway's first dramatic feature comes up a bit lacking in some areas. The framing is impeccably precise, but often looks rather drab, even ugly. It's not as aesthetically exciting as the later works. And it's really TOO cold and formal. His other films manage to find some kernel of humanity. Here it feels like like a plot plastered on top of an exercise. But it's an amusing film, and interesting to see some of his pet obsessions flowering. Also a memorable Nyman score, perhaps his best.

I just don't know about this.