Such a frustrating disappointment

How sad is this?

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

There is no need to hate this movie. It's quite enjoyable by itself. It doesn't require any heavy intellectual digging or background instruction manual to appreciate. Plus, it's quirky comedy is being taken as mysterious and dark. Please! Just enjoy it and laugh. The humor is irksome but funny. It's like a bit of Shakespeare. It has meaningful plot and fun dialogs. The guy who wrote the review centering on the Draughtsman's "arrogance and innocence "(a dangerous combo!) had it spot on, and this personality flaw is key to the plot. Thoroughly enjoyable and funny and clever. Architects everywhere, TAKE COVER! LOL.

the seduction. this is the purpose and the basic virtue. ambiguous, strange, cold, sarcastic, a garden of dialogues, colors and emotions. a thriller and chronicle of use of the other as simple tool. a film of its director. so, nothing surprising because the eccentricity, the fireworks of few scenes, the grotesque and its bizarre poetry are present as marks of a style. like the humor, costumes, clash between a young painter and an obscure universe of interests , plans and contracts. a film who seems be one of stories about sins in the too clear manner. and this could be its basic source of seduction.

I have just watched this on DVD for the fourth or fifth time and it's still one of my most favourite films. Greenaway is visually incredibly satisfying, his films are entire of themselves. You always come away with images fixed in your head. And you gain something each time you watch that you didn't notice before. Check out references to artists such as Vermeer, the fact that all the clothes are in black and white - and they switch in the last scene; a visual feast, set in beautiful countryside. So many layers, so beautifully done. And you become absorbed by the feeling of the film, it stays with you. A film you have to think about, now there's a thing!

A bizarre, quite unique period film, it is full of odd occurrences and it is technically quite well made, however the product is less than satisfying overall. Some of the dialogue is just rambling, and towards the end I really felt that this bogged down the production, despite some funny lines in the mix. The characters come off as rather cold, and some sequences in the film are not really explained properly. But is this confused and unwelcoming atmosphere what Greenaway intended? It might well be, even if knowing that does not help fix the uneasiness that one might feel when watching it. But enough of the 'bad', for the film has some great aspects too. Michael Nyman composes some wonderful music to fit alongside the action, the sets and costumes are flashy and eye-catching, and Greenaway particularly pays attention to giving the material a unique feel with the lighting design. It is an unusual film, and that makes it fascinating. Not the best out there, and from its director I prefer 'A Zed and Two Noughts', however this one is still worth a look.