In one of writer/director Peter Greenaway’s darkest comedies, three generations of womenfolk, all named Cissie Colpitts, drown their menfolk with the acquiescence of the local coroner, Madgett (Bernard Hill).
Joan Plowright, Juliet Stevenson, and Joely Richardson are delightfully lethal as the scheming trio while Greenaway indulges his obsessions with word games, lists and the ache of mortality.
Michael Nyman’s score builds momentum, even though there isn’t any, and the whole is luminous and lurid in equal measure.
Madgett
Bernard Hill
Cissie Colpitts 1
Joan Plowright
Cissie Colpitts 2
Juliet Stevenson
Cissie Colpitts 3
Joely Richardson
Smut
Jason Edwards
Jake
Bryan Pringle
Hardy
Trevor Cooper
Bellamy
David Morrissey
Gregory
John Rogan
Teigan
Paul Mooney
Nancy
Jane Gurnett
Jonah Bognor
Kenny Ireland
Director
Peter Greenaway
