The Nightwatch

Nightwatching is a 2007 film about the artist Rembrandt and the creation of his 1642 painting The Night Watch. The film is directed by Peter Greenaway and stars Martin Freeman as Rembrandt, with Eva Birthistle as his wife Saskia van Uylenburg, Jodhi May as his lover Geertje Dircx, and Emily Holmes as his other lover Hendrickje Stoffels. Reinier van Brummelen is the director of photography. James Willcock, known for his esoteric sets, is the art director. The film is described by co-producer Jean Labadie as "a return to the Greenaway of The Draughtsman's Contract." It features Greenaway's trademark neoclassical compositions and graphic sexuality. The original music is by Włodek Pawlik, while the film also makes prominent use of existing compositions by Giovanni Sollima, whose music Greenaway had also used through The Tulse Luper Suitcases. The film premiered in competition, at the Venice Film Festival. Nightwatching is the first feature in Greenaway's film series "Dutch Masters", and was followed by Goltzius and the Pelican Company. An associated work by the same director is the documentary film Rembrandt's J'Accuse (2008), in which Greenaway addresses 34 "mysteries" associated with the painting, illustrated by scenes from the drama.