Rating: 
Summary: Top 3 for me.
Review: I get goosebumps and heart palpitations when watching a Greenanway film, while my friends fall asleep or walk out (though I didn't care much for Pillow Book or 8.5 Women). This one still gives me the biggest rush. I've always found Higgins' performance mezmerizing.But the thing that's always gotten me about DC was it's absolute bravado and might. Completely uncompromising in every way in order to get to that higher level that creates a meaningful experience., but without the vile exclusionary feel that makes you wonder if the creators just hate audiences. And of course that's a big point, because Greenaway gets extremely close sometimes to just that. I would like to believe that he in fact respects his audience deeply, and finds it important to challenge us in ways that excite and entice, and not merely leaving us with a sense that we've merely been preached to. Or maybe I'm just completely nuts.
Rating:
Summary: Worth buying.
Review: If you've seen the movie and really enjoyed it, don't think you can forgo the soundtrack. I didn't realize it when watching the movie, but Nyman used the saxophone a lot. Also, the soundtrack has pieces which weren't in the movie.
Rating: 
Summary: Where's the subtitles?
Review: Intelligent and entertaining - I always liked this movie: could have been 5 stars. Too bad Fox Lorber didn't care to put much effort into the DVD release: There should be at least subtitles (for hearing impaired persons - and foreign viewers ;-) ) on every DVD release by now - so this completely "special-feature"-less disc is somewhat overpriced in comparison to other releases. It's not what it could have been.
Rating:
Summary: Essential Listening
Review: Michael Nyman's distinctive style first came to a broader audience through this soundtrack to Peter Greenaway's finest cinematic excursion. Such was Nyman and Greenaway's collaboration that Greenaway cut the film to rhythm of Nyman's baroque score. Heavily influenced by Purcell- sited as "musical consultant"- this soundtrack stands in its own right as brilliant piece of work. Thouroughly enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: Simply perfect
Review: Minimal style could perfectly fit this work. Notwithstanding, it is not a minimal music understood as a boring, monotonous or interminable series of notes, but a magisterial example of mixture 20th and 16th century music. Watching the film is not a neccesary condition to understand this surprising music, supposed to be dated on Purcell's times. Nyman wonderfully metamorphoses his music, according to the film. You must also listen to Gattaca, a very realistic view of our future world. In this film, the images of the scenes and the music "inhabit" in a perfect simbiosis. The same as this score. The first song "Chasing Sheep Is Best Left to Shepherds" is the main theme, from which all the music is developed. This is why it could sound minimal but the lovely use of different baroque instruments (and not so baroque, such us harspichord, horns, electric bass...)smears up any idea of monotony.
Quite right.
Rating:
Summary: Chilling Beauty
Review: One of the most beautiful movies I ever seen. Although other reviewers point out that the weather is too good to be true, and the wigs bigger than life, I found the filming gorgeous. The candlelight evening scene gave me a real idea of what living without electricity was like. (I know that's kind of a mundane remark, but so many other period films show brightly lit rooms; there must have been shadows and wavering lights.) The end, though, revolted me, which is a tribute to Greenaway 'cause I can watch Terminator and action films without getting shocked by death. Scenes from this movie come back to my mind frequently over the years. I appreciate all the reviews on IMDB and Amazon (and the link--that's great), as this movie has haunted me for years, and I appreciate any hints. Now I'll go look for the Saragossa Manuscript reviews.
Rating: 
Summary: Games for Adults
Review: Peter Greenaway may be the last indisputably distinctive Anglophone filmmaker. With "The Draughtsman's Contract," he broke through from relative obscurity as an experimental artist into feature-length narratives. While his subsequent films have been more conservative than his earlier work, he remains a highly original and innovative artist. "Contract" may be his most balanced film, integrating much of his earlier formal experimentation with the demands of narrative. Greenaway is just about the only well-known filmmaker with an interest in the art and film theory of the past thirty-five years. His is a "meta-cinema," at least as much about the act of making and watching movies as about particular situations. Summarizing the story of "The Draughtsman's Contract," for example, gives only a limited sense of what watching the movie is like. As some of the reviews here have pointed out, you cannot watch "Contract" without noticing the perspective tools used by Mr. Neville. These technologies anticipate the optics used in photography and cinematography. As we are aware of how they contribute to 17th century draftsmanship we (in theory at least) recognize the construction of the very images we are viewing. In short, through these and other techniques, you are too aware of experiencing the film to become engrossed in it. If you are not comfortable with such distancing, "The Draughtsman's Contract" may not be your cup of tea. On the other hand, there is certainly "much to be applauded" in "The Draughtsman's Contract." As in virtually all of Greenaway's work, the visual design and cinematography are exquisite and all the more remarkable given the film was shot in 16mm. The actors obviously relish the chance to make the film's baroque dialogue compelling, lively, believable as everyday speech. (Incidentally, fans of the British "Poirot" series should get a chuckle out of Hugh Fraser's snide, arch, thoroughly unpleasant Mr. Talmann. It's almost impossible to believe that under the wigs and layers of linen and between the pauses in a viscous German accent is Poirot's amiable poodle, Captain Hastings.) "Contract" was also as much a breakthrough for Greenaway's favorite composer, Michael Nyman, as it was for the director. The score's Purcellian themes and arrangements are a little a-typical for the composer, however. If you are familiar with the film or Greenaway's other work, you should be aware that the transfer is adequate without being stunning. While matted for widescreen, the disc is not 16:9 enhanced, which is a pity. Blown up to fill a widescreen TV, the grain gets a bit noticeable. I recommend viewing the disc in matted 4:3 mode. If you have never seen a Greenaway film, "The Draughtsman's Contract" makes an excellent introduction to the intricacies and paradoxes of his thematically and sensually rich cinema.
Rating:
Summary: Games for Adults
Review: Peter Greenaway may be the last indisputably distinctive Anglophone filmmaker. With "The Draughtsman's Contract," he broke through from relative obscurity as an experimental artist into feature-length narratives. While his subsequent films have been more conservative than his earlier work, he remains a highly original and innovative artist. "Contract" may be his most balanced film, integrating much of his earlier formal experimentation with the demands of narrative. Greenaway is just about the only well-known filmmaker with an interest in the art and film theory of the past thirty-five years. His is a "meta-cinema," at least as much about the act of making and watching movies as about particular situations. Summarizing the story of "The Draughtsman's Contract," for example, gives only a limited sense of what watching the movie is like. As some of the reviews here have pointed out, you cannot watch "Contract" without noticing the perspective tools used by Mr. Neville. These technologies anticipate the optics used in photography and cinematography. As we are aware of how they contribute to 17th century draftsmanship we (in theory at least) recognize the construction of the very images we are viewing. In short, through these and other techniques, you are too aware of experiencing the film to become engrossed in it. If you are not comfortable with such distancing, "The Draughtsman's Contract" may not be your cup of tea. On the other hand, there is certainly "much to be applauded" in "The Draughtsman's Contract." As in virtually all of Greenaway's work, the visual design and cinematography are exquisite and all the more remarkable given the film was shot in 16mm. The actors obviously relish the chance to make the film's baroque dialogue compelling, lively, believable as everyday speech. (Incidentally, fans of the British "Poirot" series should get a chuckle out of Hugh Fraser's snide, arch, thoroughly unpleasant Mr. Talmann. It's almost impossible to believe that under the wigs and layers of linen and between the pauses in a viscous German accent is Poirot's amiable poodle, Captain Hastings.) "Contract" was also as much a breakthrough for Greenaway's favorite composer, Michael Nyman, as it was for the director. The score's Purcellian themes and arrangements are a little a-typical for the composer, however. If you are familiar with the film or Greenaway's other work, you should be aware that the transfer is adequate without being stunning. While matted for widescreen, the disc is not 16:9 enhanced, which is a pity. Blown up to fill a widescreen TV, the grain gets a bit noticeable. I recommend viewing the disc in matted 4:3 mode. If you have never seen a Greenaway film, "The Draughtsman's Contract" makes an excellent introduction to the intricacies and paradoxes of his thematically and sensually rich cinema.
Rating: 
Summary: Mystery Science Theatre 3000 Candidate
Review: There should have been 2 robots and their builder in the foreground making fun of this movie! (a.k.a. Mystery Science Theatre 3000). I must say that this movie does answer the ? of what ugly men in big wigs would look like if they played with a lot of static electricity.
Rating:
Summary: Quite fascinating
Review: This beautifully shot, highly intelligent, somewhat surreal and shockingly unknown film was originally made by Peter Greenaway for the opening night of Channel Four Television in Britain, and represents, perhaps, the man at his peak. The story, which avoids any direct explanations of itself or its plot, centres around a draughtsman (Higgins) who is hired to produce twelve drawings of a stately home in England. While he draws, objects appear in the landscape around him, which he includes in his drawings... when a body finally surfaces, do the drawings contain evidence concerning the identities of its murderers, or has some clever person purposely placed the objects in order to frame someone else... possibly the draughtsman himself? One may watch the film many times, each time coming up with a different answer; the motives and dialogue contradict each other just enough to add to the mystery, but not enough to ruin any possible explanation. The sountrack (by Michael Nyman) is also interesting: the themes within it are based on eight-bar samples of Mozart which are repeated and improvised upon, to hypnotising and evocative effect. A fascinating film.
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