Peter Greenaway

Greenaway creates a catalogue of the people who drowned in the Seine River in Paris during the initial years of the French Revolution. Based on the physical traits and marks on the bodies that were found in the river, all of which appeared to have suffered violent deaths, the filmmaker attempts to piece together the lives of the anonymous victims.

A short film that reflects on the use and the custom of the bath in England. An affable, ironic and critical look at the design and structure of this space that forms part of our daily life and which seemingly nobody wants to discuss. The predominant music of the short was composed by Michael Nyman.

Through a careful manipulation of light, sound and theatrical illusion, Greenaway offers a new way of reading Da Vinci’s masterpiece. The filmmaker uses innovative technology to reproduce in minute detail both the image and the texture of the painting, bringing us closer to his reading of the work’s dramatic argument in its historical context.

Following the filmmaker’s film based on Rembrandt’s painting “Night Watch”, comes The Marriage, which, like Leonardo’s Last Supper, forms part of the series of projects that offer a rereading of classical paintings. This documentary combines historical fact with transgressive fantasy. The story takes place in 16th-century Venice and tells of the way that Pietro Aretino, a poet and intellectual known for his pornographic work, suggested that his friend, painter Paolo Veronese paint Christ’s wedding with Mary Magdalene. Nevertheless, when the cardinals imprisoned and tortured Aretino for immorality, Veronese was forced to convert the painting into the magnificent Wedding at Cana, which is currently on display at the Louvre Museum in Paris.

In this short film, Greenaway presents a display window of naked men and women with the flags of their respective countries painted on their flesh. The film forms part of the shared initiative of twenty-five filmmakers from the 25 member states of the European Union, in which each one creates a short film that displays the perspectives of his/her respective country. The group of 25 shorts, which includes The European Showerbath, is titled Visions of Europe.

An exercise typical of Greenaway that combines music, aesthetics and reality based on statistics corresponding to the age, occupation, mental state and motivation of thirty-seven people who during the course of one year either jumped or fell out of a window.