Venice Film Festival 1982, Chicago International Film Festival 1982
Set in rural Wiltshire in 1694, Greenaway’s breakthrough feature has an arrogant young artist insisting on payment in sexual favours when a woman commissions him to paint a series of pictures of her family’s house and grounds. But things are not as they may seem… Acerbic dialogue, flamboyant costumes, crisp compositions and, above all, Michael Nyman’s Purcell-based score make for intriguingly intelligent entertainment.
Peter Greenaway is a British film director, editor, screenwriter and a visual artist. He has produced a wealth of short and feature-length films, but also paintings, novels and other books. A trained painter, he has held several one-man shows and curated exhibitions at museums world-wide. His films are characterised by a an overpowering visual aspect and his recurring interest in Renaissance, Baroque and Flemish art. Most notable among them: The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989), A Zed & Two Noughts (1985), The Draughtsman's Contract (1982), and Rembrandt's J'Accuse (2008),
BFI