Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1990)

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 opening song at the beginning of the movie is Pink Floyd's "Seamus" (Meddle, 1971). The version included in the movie is an instrumental version. The album version has vocals. During the theatre company's performance of pseudo-Hamlet, a sound bit from Pink Floyd's "Echoes" (also from Meddle, 1971) can be heard. The sound of the rapier sword is the first note heard in "Echoes".

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When the boat scene starts, at the end of the movie, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern find themselves in a darkened room. Here Rosencrantz lights a match, which is obviously the only source of light in the room, but yet we can see the shadow cast on the wall by his hand holding the match.

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 "Frasier: Roz's Krantz & Gouldenstein Are Dead (#4.15)" (1997)

Soundtrack:

Echoes

The audience knows what to expect and that is all they are prepared to believe...

I first saw the film version of R and G are Dead over a year ago, it is a set text on my course and our prof showed it because we live in the middle of no where civilization-wise and had no other way to understand the action. In a class with 21 16-19 year olds trying to catch the witty banter so important to the play was an irritating struggle so eventually I gave up and focused on just reading it and understanding the main techniques Stoppard used. Then last week my other English prof offered to show the film again, I jumped at the chance and yesterday I got to see it all the way through without interruptions. I loved it from top to bottom, everything was perfect, I was upset that I had been denied the experience a year ago but was delighted that I had that second chance to see it. The three things that I think make the film so wonderful are: the acting, the connection between R and G, and the script it self drawn so well from stage to screen. Scene that are partially Hamlet, partially R and G worked so well, the Shakespearian actors meshed so well with the more modern R and G which gave everything a congruity, from one scene to another nothing was lacking. The sensation of being lost was conveyed so well by Tim Roth and Gary Oldman, the way they always wind up in the same room in the castle and just shrug it off was spectacular, it really conveyed the sense of absurd reality. I was in awe of how well the two actors worked together, they seemed combined, just as intended in the play, and played off each other beautifully. The play itself came alive on screen, certain lines just seemed to stick out and summarize Stoppard's whole idea behind it. The chief tragedian's line I quoted as the title to this comment was spoken beautifully by Dreyfus and the later line about all the directions on a compass encapsulated the main ideas of the play excellently... All in all it was a wonderful experience and I adored it, I am so happy I finally got my chance to see this wonderful film and I suggest to anyone that if they can see this film and be open to it, it certainly isn't standard (which is the idea of absurdism) but it is wonderful and enjoyable. Also don't be scared to laugh at it, some people consider it high art or comparable to Shakespeare and think laughing is unwarranted, this is ridiculous there are scenes which are laugh out loud funny and they should be laughed at, nothing is above being laughed at in theatre, so relax and enjoy... one note though, read Hamlet first if you haven't or watch the film so you get the general idea, R and G are Dead makes no sense without a background knowledge of Hamlet, but I would suggest skipping the Kenneth Brannagh twelve hour snooze-fest version... but that is for another comment...