Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead is a very weird movie based on the very weird play by Tom Stoppard (who also directed). It stars Tim Roth, Gary Oldman, Richard Dreyfuss, Iain Glen, Joanna Roth, and Donald Sumpter.
The story here is basically Hamlet, but from the perspective of the title characters. Even that's not really accurate, though, because if that were the case, you'd expect to see the messenger talking to them, to see them talking through what's happening in Elsinore Castle but to have some good idea what's going on. What is actually happening that is Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are seeing what takes place for their roles in the play between scenes, which is to say, not a lot.
This movie got some flack for being too much like a play, and like, I see the point. It would work much better onstage, but I think that the rapid dialog and the amazing snappy wordplay still comes across. The metanarrative discussions on language, free will, destiny, and so forth might be a little harder to grab onto, and I find that watching the movie now as opposed to in my 20s, it makes more sense. But it's very much the kind of theater I like - playing with audience perception and understanding of what's happening, and a kind of fatalistic realization that what's happening is happening the way it is because that's the only way it could happen, because we're in a play and we've been here many times before, never learning anything because it's not in our nature to do anything but repeat.
The three leads - Oldman as Rosencrantz, Roth as Guildenstern, and Dreyfuss as the Lead Player - take us through the film. We get to see Guildenstern struggling with the idea that his death is foreordained and not really a "death" in some sense, Rosencrantz struggle with giving up and feeling relieved when the noose is finally around their necks, and both of them struggle with who's Rosencrantz and who's Guildenstern. Actually, it's in that seemingly comedic bit that one of the most poignant notions comes across: "At least we are presented with alternatives...but not choice!"
There's a lot here, and I think you kind of need repeated viewing, and a working knowledge of Hamlet, to really get it. That in mind, it's one of my favorite movies, because it manages to be that meta and heady without getting sneery or losing a sense of humor.
My Grade: A
Rewatch Value: Low (it's long, though, and it's not light viewing)
Next up: Roxanne
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