Watch Drowning By Numbers (1988) Free Online

Release Date: 1988

Cast: Joely Richardson, Bernard Hill, Juliet Stevenson, Joan Plowright

Categories: Movies, Black comedy, Comedy, Comedy-drama, Ensemble Film

Drowning by Numbers is a 1988 British film directed by Peter Greenaway. It won the award for Best Artistic Contribution at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival. The film's plot centers on three women — a grandmother, her daughter and her niece — each named Cissie Colpitts. As the story progresses each woman successively drowns her husband. The three Cissie Colpitts are played by Joan Plowright, Juliet Stevenson, and Joely Richardson. Bernard Hill plays the coroner Madgett, who is cajoled into covering up the three crimes. The structure, with similar stories repeated three times, is... MORE

Drowning by Numbers is a 1988 British film directed by Peter Greenaway. It won the award for Best Artistic Contribution at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival. The film's plot centers on three women — a grandmother, her daughter and her niece — each named Cissie Colpitts. As the story progresses each woman successively drowns her husband. The three Cissie Colpitts are played by Joan Plowright, Juliet Stevenson, and Joely Richardson. Bernard Hill plays the coroner Madgett, who is cajoled into covering up the three crimes. The structure, with similar stories repeated three times, is reminiscent of a fairy tale, more specifically the Billy Goats Gruff, since Madgett is constantly promised greater rewards as he tries his luck with each of the Cissies in turn. The link to folklore is further established by Madgett's son Smut, who recites the rules of various unusual games played by the characters as if they were ancient traditions. Many of these games are invented for the film, including: Number-counting, game rules and the plot's repetitions are devices that emphasize structure and symmetry in Drowning by Numbers. Through the course of the film the numbers 1 to 100 appear in order, sometimes LESS