Drowning by Numbers
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{{Infobox Film | name = Drowning by Numbers
| image =
| caption = Drowning by Numbers film poster
| director = [[Peter Greenaway]]
| producer = [[Kees Kasander]]<br />[[Denis Wigman]]
| writer = Peter Greenaway
| starring = [[Joan Plowright]]<br />[[Juliet Stevenson]]<br />[[Joely Richardson]]
| music = [[Michael Nyman]]
| cinematography = [[Sacha Vierny]]
| editing = [[John Wilson]]
| distributor = [[Prestige]]
| released = 10 September 1988
| runtime = 118 min.
| language = [[English language|English]]
| budget =
| imdb_id = 0092929
}}
'''''Drowning by Numbers''''' is a [[1988 in film|1988]] [[motion picture]] directed by [[Peter Greenaway]].
The film's plot centers on three women — a [[grandmother]], [[mother]] and [[daughter]] — each named [[Cissie]] [[Colpitts]]. As the story progresses each women successively [[drown]]s her [[husband]].
Through the course of the film the numbers [[1 (number)|one]] to [[100 (number)|one hundred]] appear in order, sometimes seen in the background, sometimes spoken by the characters.
The three Cissie Colpittses 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]]. The link to [[folklore]] is further established by Madgett's [[son]] [[Smut]], who recites the rules of various unusual [[game]]s played by the characters as if they were ancient traditions. Many of these games are invented for the film, including:
*[[Bee]]s in the [[Tree]]s
*[[Dawn]] [[Card]] [[Castle]]s
*Deadman's Catch
*Flights of Fancy (or Reverse Strip Jump)
*The Great [[Death]] Game
*[[Hangman]]'s [[Cricket]]
*The [[Hare and Hound]]s
*[[Sheep]] and [[Tide]]s
The musical score is by [[Michael Nyman]], and is entirely based on themes taken from the slow movement of [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]]'s [[Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola and Orchestra|''Sinfonia Concertante'' in E flat, K364]]. Nyman had previously used this piece as the basis for part of the score for Greenaway's ''[[The Falls]]''. It is heard in its original form immediately after each drowning.
Number-counting, game rules and the plot's repetitions are devices that emphasize structure and symmetry in ''Drowning by Numbers''.
The film is set in and around [[Southwold]], [[Suffolk]], [[England]], with key landmarks such as the [[Victorian architecture|Victorian]] [[water tower]], [[Southwold Lighthouse]] and the [[River Blyth, Suffolk|River Blyth]] [[estuary]] clearly identifiable.
==External links==
*[http://petergreenaway.org.uk/drowning.htm ''Drowning by Numbers'' at petergreenaway.org.uk]
*{{imdb title | id=0092929 | title=Drowning by Numbers}}
[[Category:1988 films]]
[[Category:British films]]
[[Category:English-language films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Peter Greenaway]]
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[[de:Verschwörung der Frauen]]
[[it:Giochi nell'acqua]]
[[ru:Отсчет утопленников (фильм)]]