Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead - 2-DVD Set ( Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead )

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead - 2-DVD Set (DVD) (*)

~~$21.99~~ $18.98

Alternate Title: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
Screened, competed or awarded at:
Fantasporto Awards
Venice Film Festival
Other Film Festival Awards

Language Selections:
English ( Dolby Digital 5.1 )
English ( Subtitles )

Product Origin/Format:
United Kingdom ( PAL/Region 2 )

Running Time:
362 min

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen (1.85:1)

Special Features:
2-DVD Set
Cast/Crew Interview(s)
Interactive Menu
Scene Access

Movie filmed in 1990 and produced in:
United Kingdom ( Great Britain, Ireland )
United States ( USA, Canada )

Directed By:
Tom Stoppard

Written By:
Tom Stoppard

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

Synopsis:

Much as he would later do with Shakespeare in Love (1998), writer Tom Stoppard delivered a tale of Shakespearean origin from a skewed and unexpected perspective. In this case, it's the perspective of two relatively minor characters from Hamlet, Rosencrantz (Gary Oldman) and Guildenstern (Tim Roth), courtiers who, in the original play, were dispatched offstage before the narrative's conclusion. In Stoppard's script (which he also directed), the two supporting players take center stage as the events unfold in Elsinore Castle. Unable to determine the source of the prince's tortured despair, the duo ponders the question of fate as their predetermined roles are played out. Meanwhile, they dabble in a little verbal tennis and some ill-advised science experiments, and endure the puzzling attentions of mysterious wandering thespians led by (Richard Dreyfuss). Ordered to accompany Hamlet (Iain Glen) to England, the pair learn that the letter they carry instructs that nation's king to decapitate their mentally unbalanced and irksome charge, a revelation that Hamlet overhears.

Showing events from the point of view of two minor characters from Hamlet, men who have no control over their destiny, this film examines fate and asks if we can ever really know what's going on? Are answers as important as the questions? Will Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (or Guildenstern and Rosencrantz) manage to discover the source of Hamlet's malaise as requested by the new king? Will the mysterious players who are strolling around the castle reveal the secrets they evidently know? And whose serve is it? Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is Tom Stoppard's film adaptation of his 1968 Tony Award-winning play of the same name. Stoppard has long been a respected name in the theater (he was knighted for his work in 1997), but he is probably best known to film audiences for Shakespeare in Love, a film which earned him an Oscar for Best Screenplay. Like that film, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead takes Shakespeare and turns him on his head, but the script has more in common with Samuel Beckett and the absurdist tradition that with the Bard. That having been said, the overall plot of this laugh-out-loud film is almost secondary to the character's relationships with each other and the events around them. Gary Oldman plays the dim Rosencrantz and Tim Roth is the gentle Guildenstern (or is it the other way around?): two characters displaced from the play Hamlet who have no idea who they are or why they were sent for.

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

This product was added to our catalog on Monday 25 April, 2016.