Peter Greenaway became a director of international status with this witty, stylised and erotic English country house murder mystery. Originally funded by the BFI and released in 1982, it has been beautifully remastered in 4K by the BFI National Archive for its 40th Anniversary. The new remaster premiered in the Venice Classics strand at the recent Venice International Film Festival, is re-released in cinemas UK-wide by the BFI on 11 November 2022 and then comes to Blu-ray in a two-disc set on 14 November 2022.

In an apparently idyllic 17th-century Wiltshire, an ambitious draughtsman is commissioned by the wife of an aristocrat to produce 12 drawings depicting her husband’s estate, in return for which he will receive payment, board and bed – hers. Extravagant costumes, a twisting plot, elegantly barbed dialogue and a score by Michael Nyman make the film a treat for ear, eye and mind.

The release of The Draughtsman's Contract is a highlight of a two and a half month retrospective season as the BFI celebrates Peter Greenaway at 80 at BFI Southbank and on BFI Player. Frames of Mind: The Films of Peter Greenaway which opened on Tuesday 18 October runs to 30 December 2022.

A daring and stimulating innovator, Peter Greenaway is one of Britain’s most unique and esoteric visual artists working today. An accomplished filmmaker, writer, artist and painter with a visual style that is unsurpassed, and an occasional appetite for the taboo, BFI Southbank’s season reflects on a career that has embraced short film, television, pioneering technology and some of the most enthralling and challenging feature films ever made, including A Zed & Two Noughts (1985), The Belly of an Architect (1987), The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989), Prospero's Books (1991) and The Pillow Book (1996). 

Season programme: https://www.bfi.org.uk/framesofmind

The Draughtsman's Contract will be released on BFI Player and 2-disc Blu-ray by the BFI on 14 November 2022 at the RRP of £24.99.

BLU-RAY FEATURES:

• Presented in High Definition
• Audio commentary by Peter Greenaway (2003)
• Introduction by Peter Greenaway (2003, 10 mins): the director discusses the genesis of The Draughtsman’s Contract, his creative choices and the film’s central themes
• Visions: A Film Comment by Angela Carter (1982, 21 mins): the novelist’s contemporary TV review of The Draughtsman’s Contract
• The Guardian Interview: Michael Nyman (2002, audio only, 7 mins): the composer discusses his work on The Draughtsman’s Contract
• The Greenaway Alphabet (2017, 60 mins): Saskia Boddeke’s deeply personal portrait of her husband Peter Greenaway, his art and his relationship with his daughter
• H is For House (1976, 9 mins): an early short film by Peter Greenaway
• A Walk Through H (1978, 42 mins): Greenaway’s short depicting the symbolic journey of an ornithologist through a mysterious bird-filled country
• Insight: Zandra Rhodes (1981, 15 mins): Greenaway’s profile of the fashion designer
• Interviews with Janet Suzman, Peter Greenaway and Anthony Higgins (1981, 5 mins)
• Behind the scenes footage (1981, 5 mins)
• Deleted scenes and outtakes (1981, 11 mins total)
• Original theatrical trailer
• Restoration trailer (2022)
• Image gallery
• First pressing only: Illustrated booklet with a new Director’s Statement and a 2004 essay by Peter Greenaway; essays by Simon Barker, Robert Brown (from Sight and Sound, Winter 81/82) and Charlie Bridgen; notes on the special features and credits