The draughtsman must not have read the fine print
of The Draughtsman's Contract
of The Draughtsman's Contract
It's kind of funny sometimes the order in which you watch films going through the 1001 list. I watched Peter Greenaway's The Draughtman's Contract pretty soon after I watched The Cool World (1963). The latter is an indy Urban drama set in Harlem and the former is about as haughty a period piece as you could get. Sometimes you just have to reset your mind to time in place...give me a sec...got it.
Set in 1694 England, the draughtsman of the title is named Mr. Neville and is hired to draw a series of draughts of a fancy country house and surroundings by a rich landowner named Mrs. Herbert. But what is going on on the estate? What mystery is ultimately revealed in the draughts? Is Mr. Neville just a seducer of hearts and bodies or is something more going on? And who killed the man of the house? Is Mr. Neville going to ultimately be a victim? I can like films like this, with a harpsichord seemingly always playing in the background, elaborate costumes and gigantic wigs on both sexes, though I've really got to be in the mood for it. I admire the cleverness of The Draughtman's Contract, though I can't say I have a great desire to see it again.
The coroner's number is about to be up
in Drowning By Numbers
in Drowning By Numbers
Greenaway also directed Drowning By Numbers, a smart, dark comedy featuring three generations of women whose men come to an untimely underwater end. The ladies are all named Cissie and their crimes are covered up by a coroner infatuated by all of them. Make sure you look for the numbers 1-100 popping up throughout the movie. You may find this device tiresome after awhile, though I rather liked it. I also liked the film overall, as well as the three leading ladies (Joan Plowright, Juliet Stevenson and Joely Richardson). I also liked (and sort of identified) with the coroner played by Bernard Hill.
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