:
Anthony Higgins,
Anthony Higgins,
Janet Suzman,
more...
:
Peter Greenaway,
Peter Greenaway
see all cast/crew...
: 
: Fox Lorber
: Foreign, Independent, Black Comedy, UK
: 103 min.
: English
see additional details...
|
|
Peter Greenaway's first fiction feature (after the mock-documentary The Falls) made him immediately famous and was named one of the most original films of the 1980s by British critics. The action is set in the director's beloved 17th century. Ambitious young artist Mr. Neville (Anthony Higgins) is invited by Mrs. Herbert (Janet Suzman) to make 12 elaborate sketches of her estate. Besides money, the contract includes sexual favors that Mrs. Herbert will offer to the draughtsman in the absence of Mr. Herbert. Entirely confident in his ability to weave a web of intrigues, Mr. Neville eventually becomes a victim of someone else's elaborate scheme. The film is structured as a sophisticated intellectual puzzle like the ones popular in the 17th century. There is a lot to pay attention to besides the intrigues -- fancy wigs, conversations by candlelight, English parks, Purcell-inspired baroque music by Michael Nyman, all to please the eyes, soothe the ears, and stimulate the mind. ~ Yuri German, All Movie Guide
|
| Stylish and elusive, this is ultimately smoke and mirrors
by CHutchings
June 4, 2005 - 12:15 PM PDT
|
|
|
0 out of 2 members found this review helpful
|
| From previous films (notably the fantastic Prospero's Books) I was eagerly anticipating this film. Would that it were as good as I'd been told. The story is fairly straigtforward seeming at first, but after two viewings (each rewarding with more revelations) but too much is intentionally obscurantist. I liked the costumes and the Enlightenment locations are breathaking and vividly brought to life, the film is ultimately opaque and murky. |
| Beautiful and Witty Period Piece
by TAubuchon
May 10, 2002 - 12:47 PM PDT
|
|
|
13 out of 14 members found this review helpful
|
Peter Greenway's 17th century murder mystery was clever and striking. As with all Greenway films his stylistic visions of layers, graphics and framing elevate his work from others.
The story is of a unwitting, though hardly innocent, artist commissioned to draw the estates of a very wealthy and devious family, while the master of the house is away. It becomes clear that everything is not as it seems, but the plot is so filled with twists and surprises that the truth remains hidden until the very end. Art, intrigue, deception, and infidelity follow, in a delightfully accurate view of aristocratic life in the 17th century.
The acting and dialogue are superb, but it is the visual delights of Peter Greenaway's cinematography carefully film static, camera shots that make this film. They are a bit more straightforward, than some of his later work, but still uniquely his. His still life's illuminate the beauty and tension of the film, lifting the ordinary to extraordinary and the beautiful to the exquisite. You also can see the begins of his signature layering of graphics and text with the use of the Draughtsman's instruments to highlight the luscious landscapes. |
|
|
GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 6.76)
104 Votes
add to list 
|
|
|
Your cart
etaviotal
morpheme
© 2006 All Media Guide, LLC. Portions of content provided by All Movie Guide®,
a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC.