The Draughtsman's Contract Page #5
- R
- Year:
- 1982
- 108 min
- 2,001 Views
against my father's wardroom...
use for the collecting of apples.
And in the drawing of the laundry...
...there is a jacket of my
father's slit across the chest.
Do you not think that before
long you might find the body...
...that inhabited all those clothes?
I am thinking very hard
about the drawing you've left out.
And you, Madam,
were in that drawing.
Are you sure?
The sound of you was in the drawing.
You were playing the spinet.
I thought that we had discussed...
...the pictorial equivalents of
noise without conclusion.
Perhaps it was not
me playing the spinet.
Have you thought of that?
Then who was it?
You see, Mr. Neville,
you are already beginning...
...to play the game rather skilfully.
Four garments and a ladder...
...do not lead us to a corpse.
I said nothing about a corpse.
You are ingenious.
It is as if you'd planned it.
Your father is in Southampton.
He would not miss his
clothes or notice the ladder.
Is my father in Southampton,
Mr. Neville?
My mother told you that.
And you must realise that
she is a lady of few words...
...and not incapable of
a few stratagems.
Haven't you thought how hard...
...she persuaded you to be
her draughtsman...
...to draw her husband's
house while her husband was away?
Her explanation for
that can be supported.
Perhaps you have
taken a great deal on trust.
I look forward to the
eventual purpose and...
...outcome of this ingenuity.
My last six drawings will
be redolent of the mystery.
I will proceed step by
step to the heart of the matter.
Perhaps to the heart of my father?
Lying crimson on a
piece of green grass?
What a pity that your
drawings are in black and white.
You rush ahead.
The items are innocent.
Taken one by one,
they could so be construed.
regarded as a witness to misadventure.
Misadventure?
What misadventure?
There is no misadventure.
And more than a witness.
An accessory to misadventure.
You are fanciful.
Mr. Neville...
...I have grown to
believe that a really...
...intelligent man
makes an indifferent painter.
For painting requires
a certain blindness.
aware of all the options.
An intelligent man
will know more about...
...what he is drawing
than he will see.
And in the space between
knowing and seeing, he will become...
...constrained...
...unable to pursue an idea strongly.
Fearing that the discerning,
those who he is eager to please...
...will find him wanting
if he does not put in...
...not only what he knows,
but what they know as well.
You, Mr. Neville...
...if you are an intelligent man
and thus an indifferent painter...
...will perceive that a construction
such as I have suggested...
...could well be placed on the
evidence contained in you drawing.
If you, are as I have heard tell...
...a talented draughtsman...
...then I imagine that you
could suppose that the objects...
...I have drawn you attention to,
form no plan...
...stratagem or indictment.
Indictment, Madam?
You are ingenious.
I am allowed to be
neither of the two things...
...that I wish to be at the same time.
I propose...
...since I am in a position to
throw a connecting plot over...
...the inconsequential
items in your drawing...
...an interpretative plot
that I could explain to others...
...to account for my
father's disappearance.
And there's no word now of my
father having arrived in Southampton.
I propose that we could come to...
...some arrangement...
...and humour me.
I suggest that we come
to a similar arrangement...
...as you have struck with my mother.
I would like you now to
accompany me to the library...
...where I know that
And for each
remaining drawing to agree.
And for each
remaining drawing to agree.
To meet Mrs Talmann, in private.
And to agree to meet
Mrs. Talmann in private.
And to comply with her requests...
...concerning her pleasure with me.
And to comply with her requests...
...concerning her pleasure with me.
Drawing Number 7.
From 7 o'clock in
... the front prospect
of the house will be kept clear...
... of members of the household,
household servants...
... horses and carriages.
Drawing Number 8.
From 9 o'clock in
... the gardens in front
of the bath house building...
... will be kept clear.
No coals will be
burnt to cause smoke...
... to issue from
the bath house chimney.
From 11 o'clock in
... the yew tree walk in the
centre of the lower garden...
... will be kept completely clear...
... and all members of
Mr. Herbert's family...
... members of his
household staff and animals.
It is time, Mr. Neville.
From 2 o'clock in
... the back of the house
and the sheep pasture...
... on the eastern side, will
be kept free of all members...
... of the household
and farm servants.
The reason I've suggested
you come here is...
...because I've borrowed
this painting from the house.
Would you stand?
Are you not intrigued by it?
I confess I have
paid it little attention.
...with his eccentric
and eclectic taste.
Whilst most of his peers are
content to collect portraits...
...mostly of an
edifying family connection...
...Mr. Herbert seems
to collect anything.
Perhaps he has eye for optical theory.
Or the plight of lovers.
Or the passing of time.
What do you think?
Perhaps, Madam, he has...
...and I would stand
by him in this...
...an interest in
the pictorial conceit.
Can you see why your
husband had reason to buy it?
It's of a garden.
That's reason enough.
True, but what of the events
Shall we peruse it together?
Do you see...
...a narrative in these
apparently unrelated episodes?
in this overpopulated garden.
What intrigue is here?
Do you think the characters
have something to tell us?
Would you know if your daughter...
...had any particular
interest in this painting?
Could you put a season to it?
Do you have an opinion?
What infidelities
are portrayed here?
Do you think...
... that murder is being prepared?
Did you hear that a horse
had been found at Strides...
...which is about three
miles from here on the road...
...if followed long enough
could lead you to Southampton.
I will stay dressed,
Mr. Neville, you will not.
Mr. Clarke says the
horse has been badly treated.
All roads can lead to
Southampton...
...if the traveller on
horse is ingenious enough.
I've heard of a horse
that found its way to Dover...
...and boarded a
ship taking hay to Calais.
The French do not treat horses kindly.
They eat them.
May I leave my hat on?
Your chair looks insignificant
out there, Mr. Neville.
What significant
assumption are we to make...
...of a wounded horse
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Submitted on August 05, 2018
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"The Draughtsman's Contract" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Nov. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/the_draughtsman's_contract_20113>.
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