Peter Greenaway: The Draughtsman's Contract

by Peter Greenaway

In the summer of 1694 Mr. Neville, an ambitious draughtsman, visits the estate of landowner Mr. Herbert at Wiltshire. Securing a commission from Mrs. Herbert, Neville secures a contract whereby he is allowed unrestricted freedom of Mrs. Herbert's most intimate hospitality in exchange for twelve drawings. This adulterous contract is signed without knowledge from Mr. Herbert, and the result is a domestic intrigue from which Mr. Neville is unable to disentangle.

128 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2000

About the author

Peter Greenaway, CBE is a British film director. He is currently professor of cinema studies at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland.

Reviews

[Ian "Marvin" Graye · Rating 5 out of 5]

Screen Play

This is the screenplay of one of my favourite films.
It's a beautiful film, and it's possible to appreciate it without caring about anything that follows in this review.

The Merchant Class

The film is set in a time when English life under Royalty was separated into the Aristocracy (who were members of the Royal Court) and Commoners (who were usually farmers or peasants).
However, something new had just appeared on the scene and that was the first intimation of a new class, the middle class.
This class was a class of merchants, they traded with each other and with the other classes.
They took risks and did deals, often across significant distances and boundaries.

Excuse Me, What Did I Just Contract Here?

But in order to achieve some level of certainty in their mercantile or trading activities, they needed to know that their contracts could be "enforced" and the other parties to their contracts would honour their part of the bargain.
In order to achieve this certainty, they needed Royalty (i.e., the King) to preside over disputes.
So at the same time was created both the role of the Court and the role of a representative who could make their case for them (e.g., what we now call an attorney or lawyer).

From Monks to Attorneys

At a time when most people were illiterate, the ability to read and write was effectively restricted to monks.
However, the need to be represented before the King and his Court created a new non-ecclesiastical function for literacy outside the Church.
So at the time that the merchant or middle class was born, so was the function of attorney or lawyer.
Ever since, lawyers have been associated with mercantilism, trade and commerce.
But it needs to be remembered that their rights and privileges derive from the fact that they could read and write.
Nothing else.

A Very Classy Film

In the film, it's important that the draughtsman's contract needs to be negotiated and enforced.
Its enforcement foreshadows the new middle class, which in this case includes the draughtsman or architect.
And at the end of the film, we see a dirty, muddy, grubby worker, who is presumably an intimation of the next class to be born, the working class.
So for me, one of the great attractions of this film and its script is the way it captures society at a major point of transition.
But it also highlights the importance of trade, commerce, contract and enforcement by the State to the society that grew out of this period in time.
And, for better or for worse, attorneys and lawyers.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This screenplay is a work of great literature, riddled with acid puns and intricate, arch banter.