Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead

1990
PG
1h 57m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1990)

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

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.3/10

24K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 3 wins & 2 nominations

Photos39

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
Originally, the two leads (who appropriately spend the movie mixing up their own names) were cast the other way around.

Goofs
Throughout the movie there are scenes where day suddenly changes to night and vice versa. This is a running gag of Tom Stoppard plays which often have "time jumps" written into the stage directions.

Quotes
Rosencrantz: Do you think Death could possibly be a boat?
Guildenstern: No, no, no... Death is "not." Death isn't. Take my meaning? Death is the ultimate negative. Not-being. You can't not be on a boat.
Rosencrantz: I've frequently not been on boats.
Guildenstern: No, no... What you've been is not on boats.

Connections
Edited into Catalogue of Ships (2008)

Soundtracks
Seamus
Performed by Pink Floyd
Courtesy of EMI Records UK Ltd.

User reviews147

Review

Featured review

one of the best movies ever made

This is a truly unique movie, comic, sarcastic, tragic, ironic, and definitely hilarious. based on tom stoppard's play of the same name (stoppard also directs the film), "rosencrantz and guildenstern are dead" delves into the tragicomic lives of minor characters everywhere, on-stage and off. ros and guild's lives are thrown into turmoil every time they interact with the regular cast of hamlet, leaving them with few clues as to what their purpose is in the play and in life. stoppard's script is dizzying with puns, plays, feints and twists. the cinematography is minimalist to say the least (remember, the script was originally intended for the stage) but the "stage-presence" of the actors more than makes up for any lacks. if you like theatre and the absurd, this movie is for you.