Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1990)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Tom Stoppard

Writer:

Tom Stoppard (written by)

Release Date:

8 February 1991 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

Two minor characters from the play, "Hamlet" stumble around unaware of their scripted lives and unable to deviate from them.

Plot Keywords:

Coin | Destiny | Existentialism | Towel | Tennis

Awards:

3 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Gary Oldman	...	Rosencrantz
Tim Roth	...	Guildenstern
Richard Dreyfuss	...	The Player
Livio Badurina	...	Tragedian
Tomislav Maretic	...	Tragedian
Mare Mlacnik	...	Tragedian
Serge Soric	...	Tragedian (as Srdjan Soric)
Mladen Vasary	...	Tragedian
Zeljko Vukmirica	...	Tragedian
Branko Zavrsan	...	Tragedian
Joanna Roth	...	Ophelia
Iain Glen	...	Hamlet
Donald Sumpter	...	Claudius
Joanna Miles	...	Gertrude
Ljubo Zecevic	...	Osric

Runtime:

117 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:L | South Korea:12 | Australia:PG | Finland:K-8 | Germany:12 | UK:PG | USA:PG (certificate #30638)

Filming Locations:

Brezice, Slovenia

Company:

Brandenberg

Trivia:

The pieces of paper blowing around throughout the course of the movie are actually the pages of the Latin Vulgate Bible, as can be seen on the close-up of Rosencrantz's apple pinwheel (specifically, The Prophecy of Zacharias, chapter 8).

Goofs:

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: When Rosencrantz and Guildenstern first encounter The Player, it is day, and then suddenly changes to night. At times, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are in a night-time setting, but when the shot changes to show the The Player and his Tragedians, the sky is blue/grey. However, this is probably intentional. Absurdist drama often features a vague or ill-defined setting, including time of day. Tom Stoppard also wrote the stage play on which his screenplay is based, which features several such apparent jumps in time continuity as a means of promoting or maintaining a sense of confusion in the audience.

Quotes:

[first lines]
[Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are riding horses down a path - they pause]
Rosencrantz: [to Guildenstern] Umm, uh...
[Guildenstern rides away, and Rosencrantz follows. Rosencrantz spots a gold coin on the ground]
Rosencrantz: [to horse] Whoa - whoa, whoa.
[Gets off horse and starts flipping the coin]
Rosencrantz: Hmmm. Heads. Heads. Heads. Heads. Heads. Heads. Heads. Heads. Heads. Heads. Heads. Heads. Heads. Heads. Heads. Heads. Heads. Heads.
[Guildenstern grabs the coin, checks both sides, then tosses it back to Rosencrantz]
Rosencrantz: Heads.
[Guildenstern pulls a coin out of his own pocket and flips it]
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Virgin Suicides (1999)

Soundtrack:

Echoes

Brilliant tribute to a classic

So I was sitting around watching TV on a Sunday afternoon... or

trying too, anyway. Tragically there was nothing on... until my eye

caught a title; Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. My inner- geek answered "well duh. Read the play didn't I?" Of course my

inner geek is also curious as anything, so my geek and I turned

the channel sat back and watched as two befuddled, goofy

Shakespearian hooligans find themselves in Elsinor home of their

loony friend Hamlet. Now don't get me wrong, the dialogue goes

about 90 miles per hour, but the topics are Kevin Smith-like in their

randomness and the relationship between these two classic

characters also remind me of one Kevin would write. What's more the only way to know which is Rosencrantz and which

is Guildenstern is to look on the credits. Even they sometimes

aren't sure who's who. This movie is lightning fast and painfully

clever, definitely not for the faint of heart or head, but if you've got it

in you I *highly* recommend it.