The Draughtsman's Contract · reception & legacy

How The Draughtsman's Contract has been received, argued over, and remembered.

The arc

A tiny BFI/Channel 4-funded art film that became a surprise international hit in 1982, turning Peter Greenaway from an experimental obscurity into British art cinema's most talked-about export — and it's still the film even Greenaway sceptics tend to concede is the one that works.

What's debated

The eternal Greenaway fight plays out here in miniature: is this dazzling, wickedly funny formal games, or chilly, arch cleverness with no human pulse — with fans countering that it's easily his most accessible way in.

Its footprint

Michael Nyman's Purcell-driven score long ago escaped the film — 'Chasing Sheep Is Best Left to Shepherds' turns up in adverts, trailers and concert halls, and the film's towering wigs and razor-sharp country-house compositions remain instantly recognisable shorthand for baroque excess.

Where it stands

The consensus 'start here' Greenaway — a cornerstone of 1980s British art cinema and a steady cult favourite among cinephiles who love their period pieces cold, witty and geometric.

Named by the director

Influences Peter Greenaway has publicly named — the director's own word, distinct from the inferred lines of influence.

• Last Year at Marienbad (1961) — Greenaway has repeatedly named Resnais's country-house puzzle as the formative influence behind his own game-playing estate mystery.
• Alain Resnais — Greenaway has often cited Resnais as the filmmaker who made him want to make films, an influence he acknowledged feeding directly into this one.