The Meaning of Life (1983)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Directors:

Terry Jones
Terry Gilliam

Writers:

Graham Chapman (written by) &
John Cleese (written by) ...

Release Date:

31 March 1983 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical | Fantasy

Tagline:

What it is, Where it is, and how to avoid treading in it [Video Australia]

Plot:

The comedy team takes a look at life in all its stages in their own uniquely silly way.

Plot Keywords:

Life | Monty Python | Death | Long Take | Birth Control

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Graham Chapman	...	Fish #1 / Doctor / Harry Blackitt / Wymer / Hordern / General / Coles / Narrator #2 / Dr. Livingstone / Transvestite / Eric / Chairman / Guest #1 / Arthur Jarrett / Geoffrey / Tony Bennett
John Cleese	...	Fish #2 / Dr. Spencer / Humphrey Williams / Sturridge / Ainsworth / Waiter / Eric's Assistant / Maître D' / Grim Reaper
Terry Gilliam	...	Window Washer / Fish #4 / Walters / Middle of the Film Announcer / M'Lady Joeline / Mr. Brown / Howard Katzenberg
Eric Idle	...	Fish #3 / 'Meaning of Life' Singer / Mr. Moore / Mrs. Blackitt / Watson / Blackitt / Atkinson / Perkins / Victim #3 / Front End / Mrs. Hendy / Man in Pink / Gunther / Noël Coward / Gaston / Angela
Terry Jones	...	Fish #6 / Mum / Priest / Biggs / Sergeant / Man with Bendy Arms / Mrs. Brown / Bert / Mr. Creosote / Maria / Leaf Father / Fiona Portland-Smyth
Michael Palin	...	Window Washer / Fish #5 / Mr. Pycroft / Dad / Narrator #1 / Chaplain / Carter / Spadger / Regimental Sergeant Major / Pakenham-Walsh / Rear End / Lady TV Presenter / Mr. Marvin Hendy / Harry / Padre / Debbie Katzenberg
Carol Cleveland	...	Wife of Guest #1 / Heaven Receptionist
Simon Jones	...	Chadwick / Jeremy Portland-Smyth
Patricia Quinn	...	Mrs. Williams
Judy Loe	...	Nurse #1
Andrew MacLachlan	...	Groom / Wycliff / Victim #1 / Guest #3
Mark Holmes	...	Victim #2 / Guest #2 / Elephant Waiter
Valerie Whittington	...	Mrs. Moore
Jennifer Franks	...	Bride
Imogen Bickford-Smith	...	Nurse #2 (as Imogen Bickford Smith)

Also Known As:

Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (UK) (complete title)

Runtime:

107 min | Germany:112 min (2003 restored director's cut)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Canada:18 (Nova Scotia) (re-rating) (2003) | Iceland:12 | Italy:VM14 | Portugal:M/18 | Canada:PG (Ontario) (re-rating) (2003) | Canada:R (Nova Scotia/Ontario) (original rating) | Canada:R (Manitoba) | Ireland:(Banned) (original rating) (1983-1990) | Brazil:18 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Finland:K-16 | Ireland:15 (re-rating) | New Zealand:R16 | Norway:15 (re-rating) | Norway:16 (original rating) | Singapore:M18 (cut) | Sweden:15 | UK:15 (video re-rating) (2000) | UK:18 (original rating) | USA:R | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

England, UK

Company:

Celandine Films

Trivia:

Graham Chapman opens the door to Death and is the first person to speak to him in one sketch. By eerie coincidence, Graham Chapman was the first of the Monty Python team to die.

Goofs:

Continuity: At the start of the miracle of birth section. the mother is traveling backwards (head first). But just before she leaves the corridor, the camera view from the gurney indicates that she is moving feet first.

Quotes:

Strange Man: [Very disorientating Camerawork. The "audience" can be heard yelling out where they think the fish is] I wonder where that fish has gone?
Transvestite: You did love it so, you treated it like a son.
Strange Man: And it went... where-ever I... did go.
[Bends perplexingly long arms]
Transvestite: Is it in the cupboard? Wouldn't you like to know! It is a most elusive fish.
[Strange Man twiddles some brass taps sown to the breasts of the Transvestite's corset]
Strange Man: That went where-ever I did go.
Transvestite: Oh, fishy, fishy, fishy fish!
Strange Man: A fish, a fish, a fishy OOOOH!
Transvestite: Oh, fishy, fishy, fishy fish!
[...]

Movie Connections:

Featured in What the Pythons Did Next... (2007) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Galaxy Song

The Pythons' Last Stand

"The Meaning of Life" as a whole is clearly not Monty Python's best work, yet some of the individual sketches - the film is really just a big-budget sketch show - provide some of their most inspired moments. But overall, this is not the sort of swansong that befits the Monty Python legend.

Part of the problem is that, when the film was made (1983), British comedy was in the grip of the "alternative" revolution, as a new generation of comic writer/performers (Ben Elton, Rik Mayall, Ade Edmondson, etc) were beginning their rise to stardom and making the Python brand of humour look hopelessly out-of-date - alternative comedy was essentially comedy's "punk" to the "prog-rock" of Python.

The film opens with a beautifully-shot, but utterly pointless Terry Gilliam creation, "The Crimson Permanent Assurance", which serves little purpose other than to provide a set-up for a gag later in the film. When the film proper begins, though, the familiar Pythonesque humour kicks in, and normal business is resumed, albeit patchily.

The highlights for me are the "Live Organ Transplants" sketch, in which a man has his liver forcibly removed on his own kitchen table, and "Mr Creosote", the grossly fat diner who gorges and vomits his way to an explosive demise, both of which are the type of gross-out gags which have always found a place in British humour - even today, the "League of Gentlemen" team are proudly carrying on this tradition.

Also, some of the songs in the film are among Python's best, particularly "Every Sperm Is Sacred", a wonderfully over-the-top song-and-dance number, and the cheesey "Christmas In Heaven", in which Graham Chapman gives the greatest Tony Bennett impersonation ever committed to celluloid. Unfortunately, much of the remaining material is meandering and tedious, and just serves to pad the thing out to its already over-long 107 minutes.

Python fans will find a lot to amuse them in "The Meaning of Life", but don't expect it to be another "Holy Grail" or "Life of Brian" - it isn't.