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THE DRAUGHTSMAN’S CONTRACT
December 9, 2022 - December 18, 2022
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Fri, Dec 9 at 7pm • Sat and Sun, Dec 10 and 11 at 4pm and 7pm • IU Fine Arts Theater • Purchase Tickets
Fri, Dec 16 at 7pm • Sat and Sun, Dec 17 and 18 at 4pm and 7pm • IU Fine Arts Theater • Purchase Tickets
A TANTALIZING PUZZLE, WRAPPED IN EROTICISM AND PRESENTED WITH THE UTMOST ELEGANCE. I HAVE NEVER SEEN A MOVIE QUITE LIKE IT.
– Roger Ebert
Set in a richly exaggerated 17th-century England, Peter Greenaway’s witty, stylised, erotic country house murder mystery catapulted him to the forefront of international art cinema when it was released in 1982. Adorned with intricate wordplay, extravagant costumes and opulent photography, Greenaway’s first narrative feature weaves a labyrinthine mystery around the maxim “draw what you see, not what you know.”
An aristocratic wife (Janet Suzman) commissions a young, cocksure draughtsman (Anthony Higgins) to sketch her husband’s property while he is away—in exchange for a fee, room and board, and one sexual favor for each of the twelve drawings. As the draughtsman becomes more entrenched in the devious schemes in this seemingly idyllic country home, curious details emerge in his drawings that may reveal a murder.
UK | 1982/2022 | 104 min |
Newly remastered in 4K by the British Film Institute National Archive.
The Draughtsman’s Contract confronts the viewer in 2022 the same way as it did in 1982. This is a movie which (rather magnificently) refuses to dumb anything down, always demanding the highest pitch of attention. The Draughtsman’s Contract has a singular brilliance. — The Guardian