Directed by:
Peter GreenawayScreenplay:
Peter GreenawayCinematography:
Sacha ViernyComposer:
Michael NymanCast:
Joan Plowright, Juliet Stevenson, Joely Richardson, Bernard Hill, David Morrissey, Vanni Corbellini, Trevor Cooper, Ian Talbot, Edward Felix Pole Tudor (more)Plots(1)
Three generations of women who share the same name -- 63-year-old Cissie Colpitts (Joan Plowright), her daughter Cissie Colpitts II (Juliet Stevenson), and granddaughter Cissie Colpitts III (Joely Richardson) -- have all discovered the same way of dealing with their marital problems. The senior Cissie has drowned her husband Jake (Bryan Pringle) in the bathtub, her daughter sent her spouse Hardy (Trevor Cooper) to a watery grave in the ocean, and the youngest Cissie sent her husband Bellamy (David Morrissey) down in a swimming pool. Needless to say, local coroner Henry Madgett (Barnard Hill) has some questions about this sudden rash of drownings among the Colpitts husbands, and again all three women respond in the same way: they promise to sleep with Henry in exchange for recording the deaths as accidental (though none of the Cissies make good on this promise). When the local gossip mill begins working overtime about this sudden rash of water-related deaths, Henry's teenage son Smut (Jason Edwards) comes to the aid of the Cissies and organizes a tug-of-war, with he and the Colpitts women on one side and the doubting townspeople on the other (and, of course, a river in the middle). (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Cast
Joan Plowright
UK
Best movies:
Drowning by Numbers (1988)
Moby Dick (1956)
Dinosaur (2000)
Juliet Stevenson
UK
Best movies:
Drowning by Numbers (1988)
Desert Flower (2009)
The Last Hangman (2005)
Joely Richardson
UK
Best movies:
Drowning by Numbers (1988)
Agatha Christie: Poirot (1989) (series)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
Bernard Hill
UK
Best movies:
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
Titanic (1997)
David Morrissey
UK
Best movies:
Hangmen (2016) (theatrical recording)
Hilary and Jackie (1998)
The Hollow Crown (2012) (series)
Vanni Corbellini
Italy
Best movies:
Drowning by Numbers (1988)
The Octopus (1984) (series)
La storia spezzata (1990) (series)
Trevor Cooper
UK
Best movies:
Drowning by Numbers (1988)
Agatha Christie: Poirot (1989) (series)
Inspector George Gently (2007) (series)
Ian Talbot
UK
Best movies:
Drowning by Numbers (1988)
Agatha Christie: Poirot (1989) (series)
Juggernaut (1974)
Edward Felix Pole Tudor
UK
Best movies:
Drowning by Numbers (1988)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle (1980)
Janine Duvitski
UK
Best movies:
Drowning by Numbers (1988)
The First Great Train Robbery (1978)
Foyle's War (2002) (series)
Michael Percival
Best movies:
Drowning by Numbers (1988)
A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
Marat/Sade (1967)
Michael Fitzgerald
Best movies:
Love Actually (2003)
Prime Suspect 2 (1992) (TV movie)
Drowning by Numbers (1988)
Bryan Pringle
UK
Best movies:
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Prime Suspect (1991) (TV movie)
Tess of the D'Urbervilles (1998) (TV movie)