The read
Critics rate it 17 points higher than audiences do. Scores higher than 88% of the 997 1980s comedy movies in this catalog.
Synopsis
Cissie Colpitts drowns her cheating husband and, in the ensuing cover-up, enlists the help of lonely coroner Henry Madgett, an old friend with a longstanding weakness for her charms. But when Cissie's daughter and granddaughter—both also named Cissie Colpitts—decide to resort to the same methods for solving conflicts with their own frustrating husbands, the women and their repeated appeals for help begin to wear on Madgett's conscience.
Ratings
IMDb7.1/10
Rotten Tomatoes88%
Critics rate it 17 points higher than audiences do.
197 audience votes
Key crew
- Peter GreenawayDirector
- Peter GreenawayWriter
- Michael NymanOriginal Music Composer
Cast
- Joan PlowrightCissie Colpitts
- Juliet StevensonCissie Colpitts (Daughter)
- Joely RichardsonCissie Colpitts (Granddaughter)
- Bernard HillHenry Madgett
- Jason EdwardsSmut
- Bryan PringleJake
- Trevor CooperHardy
- David MorrisseyBellamy
- John RoganGregory
- Paul MooneyTeigan
- Jane GurnettNancy
- Kenny IrelandJonah Bognor
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Themes
drowningdark comedydysfunctional familyavant-gardecoronersuffolk, englandindependent filmexperimental filmcrime comedywidowhood
The Best Movies of 1988
Drowning by Numbers is #33 of 60
