FILM LIST-
I Drowning By Numbers (18) (Peter 3 Greenaway. UK. 1988) Joan Plowright. Bernard Hill. Joely Richardson. 118
mins. Drowning By Numbers is as straightforward and complicated as its title. recounting an intriguing tale in
whichihree generations at women. all called Cissie Colpitts. dispose oi their
husbands in a series oi aquatic murders. The numbersi to 100 run throughoutthe course otthe iilm. hence the title.
Amidst the visual delights. verbal panache and wit oi Peter Greenaway‘s storytelling there lurks a stimulating treatise on what he terms ‘the conspiracy otwomen'. Atthe iilm‘s
Cannes press conierence. he explained
some oi the background to the latest iilm in a satisiyingly prolilic career.
‘The script idea goes back to the time I was editing The Draughtsman‘s Contract. Iwas keen to try and experiment with something like the 1976 ieature Vertical Feature Remake which was an attempt to layer together three separate ideas and the structure oi this iilm is based on that. Normally. the origin oi a iilm comes lrom a
consideration at structure. You can see the classical structure here oi a
prologue. three acts and a coda. So.
although the themes are created and
developed through anecdotes and
intricacies oi narrative there is also a
very deiinite. pre-organised structure
. that the narrative has to take
DROWNING BY NUMBERS
J l‘
cognizance oi.‘ Whilst the lilm incorporates many oi the ingredients one has come to expect irom Greenaway (insistent Michael Nyman music. truly ravishing Sacha Vierny photography et al) it does also represent a iurther stage in his evolution as a lilmmaker. Without compromising his idiosyncratic cinematic vision he has created a work as entertaining and accessible as anything more ostensibly mainstream cinema has to oiier. ‘Cinema is a cerebral activity as well as an emotional one.‘ he claims. ‘Most
cinema insults its audience. We accept ;
that painting and literature can both entertain and deal with ideas: cinema should not exist as some iorm ol
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EDINBURGH FILMHOUSE 29 AUG — 3 SEPT
emotional masturbation. There was no particular bid to gain a more mainstream ioothold here. I‘m enjoying working with actors more and more and it's always important to enlarge yourlilmic vocabulary.‘ Greenaway seems particularly sensitive to criticisms oi his past attitude towards actors and seems determined to make amends with his sympathetic ensemble in Drowning. Juliet Stevenson. Cissie number2. comments; ‘l‘ve rarely experienced working with someone who endowed you with so much coniidence and trust. This should kill the myth that Peter Greenaway is not goodioractors.‘ (George Bailey)
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._ _.- _- _--__. 50 Hip lixl Iii .-\iig_'> lScpt 1988