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Drowning by Numbers

Drowning by Numbers

  • Status: Released
  • 10-09-1988
  • Runtime: 119 min
  • Score: 7.112
  • Vote count: 174

Three generations of women who seek to murder their husbands share a solidarity for one another which brings about three copy-cat drownings.

Joan Plowright

Cissie Colpitts 1

Juliet Stevenson

Cissie Colpitts 2

Joely Richardson

Cissie Colpitts 3

Bernard Hill

Madgett

Jason Edwards

Smut

Bryan Pringle

Jake

Trevor Cooper

Hardy

David Morrissey

Bellamy

John Rogan

Gregory

Paul Mooney

Teigan

Jane Gurnett

Nancy

Kenny Ireland

Jonah Bognor

Michael Percival

Moses Bognor

Joanna Dickens

Mrs. Hardy

Janine Duvitski

Marina Bellamy

Michael Fitzgerald

Mr. 70 Van Dyke

Edward Tudor-Pole

Mr. 71 Van Dyke

Natalie Morse

The Skipping Girl

Arthur Spreckley

Sid the Gravedigger

Ian Talbot

The Police Detective

Roderic Leigh

The Policeman

Vanni Corbellini

The Hare

Jose Berg

Skipping Girl's Mother

Peter Jaques

Priest (uncredited)

CinemaSerf

I actually found this to be one of Peter Greenaway's more accessible films. Though it's still riddled with some surreal imagery that made little, if any, sense to me, it is quite an effective and funny look at the institution of marriage. Now the Colpitts family can't really be accused of having much imagination when it comes to naming their offspring. "Cissie" (Joan Plowright) has "Cissie" (Juliet Stephenson) who has "Cissie (Joely Richardson) and none of these women make matches that they want to endure. There's plenty of philandering going on, so - well use the title as a clue as to just what happens now... This is a strongly characterised drama with three women very much at the top of their game, ably supported by Bernard Hill's rather eccentric "Madgett", that interweaves an intricate serious of - ok, not always the most plausible - sub-plots into a story that's ultimately a revenge comedy. It's a bit on the long side, and it does sag slightly when - I felt, anyway - there is less Plowright on the screen but the dialogue is quickly and pithily delivered, there is loads of rather natural nudity to lend authenticity to the earthiness of the topic and we are left with a powerful assassination of the marriage state and a clear illustration that there are more ways than one to skin a cat (and get away with it!). Michael Nyman has scored this jauntily and together with Sacha Vierny's eclectic style of cinematography, makes this film fun to watch with some deadly undercurrents.