Two friends wandering a desolate place with little memory of who they are or how they got there meet an enigmatic traveling acting troupe, whose plays are so real that, as the playwright advertises, one may get caught up in the action. The two find themselves to be Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, minor characters in Shakespeare's play Hamlet, summoned by the king and queen of Denmark to cheer up their friend Hamlet (prince of Denmark) and find out what is the matter with him. The two weave in and out of scenes from the play and a modern commentary/banter full of wordplay, logic, mathematics, and philosophy.
I heard about this one from a friend from school, and watched it for the first time about ten years ago with my sister on a day about as peculiar (if I remember correctly, so much dust hung in the air, it was like smoke) as the movie. She recently informed me that she shows it to any of her friends who are willing. It's a good film to watch, I feel, when you don't understand what's going on in the world, particularly when it comes to life and death.
Guildenstern (Roth) is a no-nonsense, logical man trying to get to the bottom of Hamlet's affliction and Rosencrantz (Oldman) is his whimsical, scientific friend helping him where he can. But Guildenstern's logic doesn't quite help him understand Hamlet's problem, and Rosencrantz' scientific discoveries (air resistance, steam-powered turbine, paper airplane, etc.) frequently backfire or otherwise don't work when he tries to show Guildenstern. The duo play a unique variant of tennis, with one player volleying questions to the other, perhaps hinting at the insufficiencies of the dialectic and quantification: one funny moment happens after Hamlet exits the room, they (futilely?) score their discussion with him by its rules. Similarly, in the beginning, they find the mathematical rules of probability don't seem to apply to any coin they flip, a very unlikely event.
The Playwright (Dreyfuss) is the leader of the band of actors they meet on their journey. I recently heard a quote attributed to Iago -- a character in another Shakespearean play, though the quote may be from elsewhere -- that talks about Deo Crudel (cruel God). The Playwright is something like that, but not in a capricious way because he lives according to his rules like: "We can't give you love and rhetoric without the blood," "the bad end unhappily, the good, unluckily," and "events must play themselves out to an aesthetic, moral and logical conclusion." In a rage against what he feels is injustice Guildenstern kills the Playwright, who resurrects shortly after, similar to the Christian Messiah. But there are also parallels between Christ and the duo, who visited Hamlet to help him only to find themselves unfairly executed.
Supporting actors in this play, Iain Glen's performance to me is the embodiment of Hamlet, clearly troubled but also reasonably sane, and Ian Richardson's Polonius is similarly fascinating. Soliloquies especially are delivered memorably by all performers.
There is an intricate structure of plays going on. One facet is Stoppard's play about the two friends, presumably from Shakespeare's play, although given their memory loss they may not be. They meet the Playwright, but when he accepts their payment for a play, he disappears, so it's unclear when his play starts. The Playwright, too, is a character in Shakespeare's play, whom Hamlet hires to put on a play of Gonzago to "catch the conscience of the king." In downtime the band of actors also allude to events that will play out in Shakespeare's play to members of Stoppard's play with shadowplay, pantomime, and puppetry.
I can't think of anything I've seen that's quite like this film, though some plays I've read by Beckett come close. It's dark (tragic) but light (funny). It's absurd but it makes sense. Definitely a favorite!
I heard about this one from a friend from school, and watched it for the first time about ten years ago with my sister on a day about as peculiar (if I remember correctly, so much dust hung in the air, it was like smoke) as the movie. She recently informed me that she shows it to any of her friends who are willing. It's a good film to watch, I feel, when you don't understand what's going on in the world, particularly when it comes to life and death.
Guildenstern (Roth) is a no-nonsense, logical man trying to get to the bottom of Hamlet's affliction and Rosencrantz (Oldman) is his whimsical, scientific friend helping him where he can. But Guildenstern's logic doesn't quite help him understand Hamlet's problem, and Rosencrantz' scientific discoveries (air resistance, steam-powered turbine, paper airplane, etc.) frequently backfire or otherwise don't work when he tries to show Guildenstern. The duo play a unique variant of tennis, with one player volleying questions to the other, perhaps hinting at the insufficiencies of the dialectic and quantification: one funny moment happens after Hamlet exits the room, they (futilely?) score their discussion with him by its rules. Similarly, in the beginning, they find the mathematical rules of probability don't seem to apply to any coin they flip, a very unlikely event.
The Playwright (Dreyfuss) is the leader of the band of actors they meet on their journey. I recently heard a quote attributed to Iago -- a character in another Shakespearean play, though the quote may be from elsewhere -- that talks about Deo Crudel (cruel God). The Playwright is something like that, but not in a capricious way because he lives according to his rules like: "We can't give you love and rhetoric without the blood," "the bad end unhappily, the good, unluckily," and "events must play themselves out to an aesthetic, moral and logical conclusion." In a rage against what he feels is injustice Guildenstern kills the Playwright, who resurrects shortly after, similar to the Christian Messiah. But there are also parallels between Christ and the duo, who visited Hamlet to help him only to find themselves unfairly executed.
Supporting actors in this play, Iain Glen's performance to me is the embodiment of Hamlet, clearly troubled but also reasonably sane, and Ian Richardson's Polonius is similarly fascinating. Soliloquies especially are delivered memorably by all performers.
There is an intricate structure of plays going on. One facet is Stoppard's play about the two friends, presumably from Shakespeare's play, although given their memory loss they may not be. They meet the Playwright, but when he accepts their payment for a play, he disappears, so it's unclear when his play starts. The Playwright, too, is a character in Shakespeare's play, whom Hamlet hires to put on a play of Gonzago to "catch the conscience of the king." In downtime the band of actors also allude to events that will play out in Shakespeare's play to members of Stoppard's play with shadowplay, pantomime, and puppetry.
I can't think of anything I've seen that's quite like this film, though some plays I've read by Beckett come close. It's dark (tragic) but light (funny). It's absurd but it makes sense. Definitely a favorite!