Drowning by Numbers
Encyclopedia
Drowning by Numbers is a 1988 British film directed by Peter Greenaway
. It was entered into the 1988 Cannes Film Festival
.
and daughter
— 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 seen in the background, sometimes spoken by the characters.
The film is set in and around Southwold
, Suffolk
, England
, with key landmarks such as the Victorian
water tower
, Southwold Lighthouse and the River Blyth
estuary clearly identifiable.
, and is, at Greenaway's specific request, entirely based on themes taken from the slow movement of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
's Sinfonia Concertante in E flat, K364
, bars 58-61 of which are heard in their original form immediately after each drowning. Nyman was alerted to the potential of this piece by Greenaway in the late 1970s and had previously used it as material for part of the score for Greenaway's The Falls
and for "The Masterwork" Award Winning Fish-Knife
and Tristram Shandy
. "Trysting Fields" is the most complicated use of the material: every apoggiatura from the movement, and no other material from the piece, is used.
The album is the tenth by Nyman, and the seventh to feature the Michael Nyman Band
.
The back cover of the album booklet has a large number 58. Fred Ritzel has pointed out that the Skipping Girl (Natalie Morse) reaches number 58 in her counting game. These are subtle ways of drawing attention to the key bar of the Mozart piece.
Peter Greenaway
Peter Greenaway, CBE is a British film director. His films are noted for the distinct influence of Renaissance and Baroque painting, and Flemish painting in particular...
. It was entered into the 1988 Cannes Film Festival
1988 Cannes Film Festival
- Jury :*Ettore Scola*Claude Berri*David Robinson*Yelena Safonova*George Miller*Hector Olivera*Nastassja Kinski*Philippe Sarde*Robby Muller*William Goldman-Feature film competition:* A World Apart by Chris Menges...
.
Plot
The film's plot centers on three women — a grandmother, motherMother
A mother, mum, mom, momma, or mama is a woman who has raised a child, given birth to a child, and/or supplied the ovum that grew into a child. Because of the complexity and differences of a mother's social, cultural, and religious definitions and roles, it is challenging to specify a universally...
and daughter
Daughter
A daughter is a female offspring; a girl, woman, or female animal in relation to her parents. The male equivalent is a son. Analogously the name is used on several areas to show relations between groups or elements.-Etymology:...
— each named Cissie Colpitts. As the story progresses each woman successively drowns her husband. The three Cissie Colpitts are played by Joan Plowright
Joan Plowright
Joan Ann Plowright, Baroness Olivier, DBE , better known as Dame Joan Plowright, is an English actress, whose career has spanned over sixty years. Throughout her career she has won two Golden Globe Awards and a Tony Award and has been nominated for an Academy Award, an Emmy, and two BAFTA Awards...
, Juliet Stevenson
Juliet Stevenson
Juliet Anne Virginia Stevenson, CBE is an English actor of stage and screen.- Early life :Stevenson was born in Kelvedon, Essex, England, the daughter of Virginia Ruth , a teacher, and Michael Guy Stevenson, an army officer. Stevenson's father was in the army and was posted to a new place every...
, and Joely Richardson
Joely Richardson
Joely Kim Richardson is an English actress, most known recently for her role as Queen Catherine Parr in the Showtime television show The Tudors and Julia McNamara in the television drama Nip/Tuck...
. Bernard Hill
Bernard Hill
Bernard Hill is a British actor of film, stage and television. In a career spanning thirty years, he is best known for playing Yosser Hughes, the troubled 'hard man' whose life is falling apart in Alan Bleasdale's groundbreaking 1980s TV drama, Boys from the Blackstuff...
plays the coroner
Coroner
A coroner is a government official who* Investigates human deaths* Determines cause of death* Issues death certificates* Maintains death records* Responds to deaths in mass disasters* Identifies unknown dead* Other functions depending on local laws...
Madgett, who is cajoled into covering up the three crimes.
The structure, with similar stories repeated three times, is reminiscent of a fairy tale
Fairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...
, 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
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
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:
- BeeBeeBees are flying insects closely related to wasps and ants, and are known for their role in pollination and for producing honey and beeswax. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamily Apoidea, presently classified by the unranked taxon name Anthophila...
s in the Trees - Dawn Card Castles
- Deadman's Catch
- Flights of Fancy (or Reverse Strip Jump)
- The Great Death Game
- HangmanHangmanHangman may refer to:* Hangman, an executioner who carries out a death sentence by hanging* Hangman , a game of guessing a word or phrase one letter at a timeIn literature:* Hangman , an enemy of Batman...
's CricketCricketCricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the... - The Hare and HoundHare and Hound-United States Hare and Hound:In the United States, a Hare & Hound is a type of off-road racing event where the entrants compete on dirt bikes over a marked course of natural rugged terrain. Hare and Hounds events are made up of two separate race courses with each course averaging 40 miles in...
s - Sheep and TideTideTides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the moon and the sun and the rotation of the Earth....
s
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 seen in the background, sometimes spoken by the characters.
The film is set in and around Southwold
Southwold
Southwold is a town on the North Sea coast, in the Waveney district of the English county of Suffolk. It is located on the North Sea coast at the mouth of the River Blyth within the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The town is around south of Lowestoft and north-east...
, Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, with key landmarks such as the Victorian
Victorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...
water tower
Water tower
A water tower or elevated water tower is a large elevated drinking water storage container constructed to hold a water supply at a height sufficient to pressurize a water distribution system....
, Southwold Lighthouse and the River Blyth
River Blyth, Suffolk
The River Blyth is a river in Suffolk, England, with a tidal estuary between Southwold and Walberswick.It can be crossed by pedestrians by a public footbridge called the Bailey Bridge about a mile upstream from the sea or by the Walberswick rowing boat ferry between 9am-5pm daily.The estuary mouth...
estuary clearly identifiable.
Cast
- Joan PlowrightJoan PlowrightJoan Ann Plowright, Baroness Olivier, DBE , better known as Dame Joan Plowright, is an English actress, whose career has spanned over sixty years. Throughout her career she has won two Golden Globe Awards and a Tony Award and has been nominated for an Academy Award, an Emmy, and two BAFTA Awards...
- Cissie Colpitts - Juliet StevensonJuliet StevensonJuliet Anne Virginia Stevenson, CBE is an English actor of stage and screen.- Early life :Stevenson was born in Kelvedon, Essex, England, the daughter of Virginia Ruth , a teacher, and Michael Guy Stevenson, an army officer. Stevenson's father was in the army and was posted to a new place every...
- Cissie Colpitts - Joely RichardsonJoely RichardsonJoely Kim Richardson is an English actress, most known recently for her role as Queen Catherine Parr in the Showtime television show The Tudors and Julia McNamara in the television drama Nip/Tuck...
- Cissie Colpitts - Bernard HillBernard HillBernard Hill is a British actor of film, stage and television. In a career spanning thirty years, he is best known for playing Yosser Hughes, the troubled 'hard man' whose life is falling apart in Alan Bleasdale's groundbreaking 1980s TV drama, Boys from the Blackstuff...
- Madgett - Jason Edwards - Smut
- Bryan PringleBryan PringleBryan Pringle was a British actor who appeared in television, film and theatre productions.Born in Tamworth, Staffordshire but raised in the Lancashire town of Bolton he trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. In 1958, he married character actress Anne Jameson; together they had...
- Jake - Trevor CooperTrevor CooperTrevor "Trev" Cooper is an English actor.-Background:Cooper studied law at Kingston Polytechnic and graduated with a masters degree in law from the University of Warwick...
- Hardy - David MorrisseyDavid MorrisseyDavid Mark Morrissey is an English actor and director. Morrissey grew up in the Kensington and Knotty Ash areas of Liverpool, and learned to act at the city's Everyman Youth Theatre. At the age of 18, he was cast in the television series One Summer , which won him recognition throughout the country...
- Bellamy - John RoganJohn RoganJohn William "Bud" Rogan is one of 13 people in medical history to reach a height of 8 feet or more.He was born in Sumner County, Tennessee, United States, between 1865 and 1868. Rogan began to grow very rapidly at the age of 13, leading to ankylosis. Having only been able to walk on crutches, by...
- Gregory - Paul MooneyPaul MooneyPaul Mooney is an American comedian, writer, social critic, television and film actor. He was also featured on one of truTV's reality shows, Ma's Roadhouse.-Early life:...
- Teigan - Jane GurnettJane GurnettJane Gurnett is a British actress best known for her leading roles in British TV series Casualty , Dangerfield and the second incarnation of Crossroads .-Career:...
- Nancy - Kenny IrelandKenny IrelandKenny Ireland is a Scottish actor and theatre director, best known to television viewers as part of Victoria Wood's 'rep' company in the BBC series Victoria Wood As Seen On TV.-Career:...
- Jonah Bognor - Michael Percival - Moses Bognor
- Joanna Dickens - Mrs. Hardy
- Janine DuvitskiJanine DuvitskiJanine Duvitski is an English actress, known for her roles as Jane Edwards in Waiting for God and Pippa Trench in One Foot in the Grave. She also created and played the role of Angela in Mike Leigh's play Abigail's Party.-Personal life:Duvitski was born in Nottingham. Her father was Polish...
- Marina Bellamy
Music
The musical score is by Michael NymanMichael Nyman
Michael Laurence Nyman, CBE is an English composer of minimalist music, pianist, librettist and musicologist, known for the many film scores he wrote during his lengthy collaboration with the filmmaker Peter Greenaway, and his multi-platinum soundtrack album to Jane Campion's The Piano...
, and is, at Greenaway's specific request, entirely based on themes taken from the slow movement of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
's Sinfonia Concertante in E flat, K364
Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola and Orchestra
The Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola and Orchestra in E-flat major, K. 364 , was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.At the time of its composition in 1779, Mozart was on a tour of Europe that included Mannheim and Paris...
, bars 58-61 of which are heard in their original form immediately after each drowning. Nyman was alerted to the potential of this piece by Greenaway in the late 1970s and had previously used it as material for part of the score for Greenaway's The Falls
The Falls
The Falls is a 1980 film directed by Peter Greenaway. It was Greenaway's first feature-length film after many years making shorts. It does not have a traditional dramatic narrative; it takes the form of a mock documentary in 92 short parts.-Plot:...
and for "The Masterwork" Award Winning Fish-Knife
"The Masterwork" Award Winning Fish-Knife
'The Masterwork' Award Winning Fish-Knife is a 1979 performance sculpture by Paul Richards and Bruce McLean with music by Michael Nyman. The companion album is the second release by Michael Nyman and the first release including the Michael Nyman Band...
and Tristram Shandy
Tristram Shandy (opera)
Tristram Shandy is an unfinished opera project by Michael Nyman based on his favorite novel, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, by Laurence Sterne, begun in 1981...
. "Trysting Fields" is the most complicated use of the material: every apoggiatura from the movement, and no other material from the piece, is used.
The album is the tenth by Nyman, and the seventh to feature the Michael Nyman Band
Michael Nyman Band
The Michael Nyman Band, formerly known as the Campiello Band, is a group formed as a street band for a 1976 production of Carlo Goldoni's 1756 play, Il Campiello directed by Bill Bryden at the Old Vic...
.
Track listing
- Trysting Fields
- Sheep and Tides
- Great Death Game
- Drowning by Number 3
- Wheelbarrow Walk
- Dead Man's Catch
- Drowning by Number 2
- Bees in Trees
- Fish Beach
- Wedding Tango
- Crematorium Conspiracy
- Knowing the Ropes
- Endgame
The back cover of the album booklet has a large number 58. Fred Ritzel has pointed out that the Skipping Girl (Natalie Morse) reaches number 58 in her counting game. These are subtle ways of drawing attention to the key bar of the Mozart piece.