A distant cousin to the “chateau artporn” of the previous decade, […] te sheer, bizarre vehemence and intensity of The Draughtsman’s Contract confronts the viewer now in the same way as it did [in 1982], and whatever its indulgence, this is a movie which (rather magnificently) refuses to dumb anything down, always demanding the highest pitch of attention.
— Peter Bradshaw (The Guardian)