Drowning by numbers

United Kingdom, 1988

Film
Please note

Sorry, we aren't able to make images or video for this item available to the public online.

A tale of three women with the same name, whose solidarity with one another brings about three copy-cat murders. They drown their husbands - one in a tin bath, one in the sea and one in a swimming pool. An ironic, black comedy that celebrates the English obsession with gameplaying, sex and death. Stars Joan Plowright, Juliet Stevenson, Joely Richardson and Bernard Hill.

Content notification

Our collection comprises over 40,000 moving image works, acquired and catalogued between the 1940s and early 2000s. As a result, some items may reflect outdated, offensive and possibly harmful views and opinions. ACMI is working to identify and redress such usages.

Learn more about our collection and our collection policy here. If you come across harmful content on our website that you would like to report, let us know.

How to watch

This work has not been digitised and is currently unavailable to view online. It may be possible for approved reseachers to view onsite at ACMI.

Learn more about accessing our collection

Collection

In ACMI's collection

Credits

director

Peter Greenaway

co-producer

Denis Wigman

Kees Kasander

production company

Film Four International

Duration

01:58:00:00

Production places
United Kingdom
Production dates
1988

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

302431

Language

English

Audience classification

MA

Sound/audio

Sound

Colour

Colour

Holdings

VHS; Access Print (Section 1)

Wikidata

Q2297293

Please note: this archive is an ongoing body of work. Sometimes the credit information (director, year etc) isn’t available so these fields may be left blank; we are progressively filling these in with further research.

Cite this work on Wikipedia

If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/81350--drowning-by-numbers/ |title=Drowning by numbers |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=26 April 2024 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}