Drowning by Numbers is either audacious or pretentious, depending on how much you like games. Greenaway returns to the subjects of sex and death, weaving a tale of hidden jealousies, greed and revenge, filled with sardonic, black humor. Three women, a mother, her daughter and her niece all called Cissie Colpitts, drown their unsatisfactory husbands. The game-playing local coroner helps the women with their deeds in exchange for sexual favors that are never really fulfilled. But under pressure from the families of the deceased he confesses his part in the crimes. The idyllic English village is then thrown into chaos. The numbers of the title refer to one of the many playful elements in the film-particularly the digits ranging from 1 to 100 that have been inserted into each scene somehow-that add to the film′s overall game-playing tone. Viewers become caught up in a game as much as the protagonists do. One of the sunniest dark films ever made. Featuring a trio of standout performances by Joan Plowright, Juliet Stevenson and Joely Richardson.