Monty Python's 4th movie returns to the sketch format of their TV series. This is the last film with all the Pythons together as a group. It explores the many aspects of life and death, from procreation to the Grim Reaper and beyond.
Michael Palin said the film "ranges from philosophy to history to medicine to halibut--especially halibut." THE MEANING OF LIFE is outrageous, tasteless, offensive, irreverent, bizarre, and a gross-out. In other words, it is probably Monty Python's best movie.
The first pre-credits sequence is a short film about some old workers in a London insurance company, Crimson Permanent Assurance. It is the weakest sketch, too long at 16 minutes, not very funny and a bore to watch more than once or twice. The elderly office clerks rebel against their bosses, turn the building into a pirate ship, raid financial districts in big cities, then fall off the edge of the world. Good riddance. However, in all fairness, some Monty Python fans love it.
(large corporate boardroom filled with executives)
Exec 1: "Item six on the agenda: "The Meaning of Life". Now uh, Harry, you've had some thoughts on this."
Exec 2: "Yeah, I've had a team working on this over the past few weeks, and what we've come up with can be reduced to two fundamental concepts. One: People aren't wearing enough hats. Two: Matter is energy. In the universe there are many energy fields which we cannot normally perceive. Some energies have a spiritual source which act upon a person's soul. However, this "soul" does not exist ab initio as orthodox Christianity teaches; it has to be brought into existence by a process of guided self-observation. However, this is rarely achieved owing to man's unique ability to be distracted from spiritual matters by everyday trivia."
Exec 3: "What was that about hats again?"
Exec 2: "Oh, Uh... people aren't wearing enough."
Exec 1: "Is this true?"
Exec 4: "Certainly. Hat sales have increased but not pari passu, as our research..."
Exec 3: "Not wearing enough? Enough for what purpose?"
Exec 5: "Can I just ask, with reference to your second point, when you say souls don't develop because people become distracted..."
All six Pythons appear as fish in a tank and discuss philosophy. These fish appear throughout the film, providing a little continuity with their comments. After the opening credits, "The Miracle of Birth, Part 1" involves scenes about the technology used in the modern birth process. Part 2 is a satire on the differences between Protestant and Roman Catholic views on contraception and sex.
A school teacher named Humphrey Williams (John Cleese) personally demonstrates live sex with his wife (Patricia Quinn) in his classroom of bored schoolboys.
Williams: "Now, sex. Sex, sex, sex. Where were we?"
(pupils can't remember)
Williams: "Well, had I got as far as the penis entering the vagina?"
Pupils: "Uh, no, sir. No, sir."
Williams: "Well, had I done foreplay?"
Pupils: "Yes, sir. Yes, sir."
Williams: "Ah. Well, as we all know all about foreplay, no doubt you can tell me what the purpose of foreplay is. Biggs."
Biggs: "Um, don't know. Sorry, sir."
Williams: "Carter?"
Carter: "Oh. Uh, was it taking your clothes off, sir?"
Williams: "Well, a-and after that?"
Wymer: "Oh! Putting them on a lower peg, sir."
(Williams throws an object at Wymer for his stupidity)
Williams: "The purpose of foreplay is to cause the vagina to lubricate so that the penis can penetrate more easily."
An army officer (Terry Jones) is unable to rally his men during an attack, because the men insist on celebrating his birthday. Other vignettes include: philosophical discussions, vacation resorts, anti-semitism, middle class lifestyles, death, the after-life, and National Health doctors try to claim a liver from a living donor. Mr. Creosote (Terry Jones) steals the show as the world's largest glutton. MEANING OF LIFE won the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. This is interesting because Orson Welles, surely Mr. Creosote's main competition for obesity, was a member of the jury.
Eric Idle sings the "Penis Song" much like Noel Coward in a posh restaurant:
"Isn't it awfully nice to have a penis?
Isn't it frightfully good to have a dong?
It's swell to have a stiffy.
It's divine to own a dick,
From the tiniest little tadger
To the world's biggest prick.
So, three cheers for your Willy or John Thomas.
Hooray for your one-eyed trouser snake,
Your piece of pork, your wife's best friend,
Your Percy, or your c**k.
You can wrap it up in ribbons.
You can slip it in your sock,
But don't take it out in public,
Or they will stick you in the dock,
And you won't come back."
Every sketch has a meaning or moral. MEANING OF LIFE appeals mostly to fans of the "Flying Circus" TV series, and less so to fans of their "real" movies. It is more mature than their earlier comedy, with a darker edge. Beautifully filmed, it is also clever, daring, indulgent, disturbing, deliberately offensive, and of course delightfully silly.
The cast includes: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, Carol Cleveland, Simon Jones (Cedric), Judy Loe (nurse), Andrew MacLachlan (Groom), Mark Holmes (severed head), Valerie Whittington (Mrs. Moore), Jennifer Franks (bride), Angela Mann, Peter Lovstrom, George Silver, Chris Grant, Sydney Arnold, Guy Bertrand, Andrew Bicknell, Ross Davidson, Myrtle Devenish, Tim Douglas, Eric Francis, Matt Frewer, Paul Bourke, Bonnie Bryg, Jane Colthorpe, Charlotte Corbett, and many others. The six Pythons wrote the script. Original music is by John Du Prez. Non-original music is by Johann Sebatian Bach. Terry Gilliam directed the "Crimson Permanent Assurance" segment. Terry Jones directed.
Guests at a dinner party in the countryside are visited by the Grim Reaper.
Grim Reaper: "Englishmen, you're all so f**king pompous. None of you have got any balls. Shut up, you American. You Americans, all you do is talk, and talk, and say "Let me tell you something" and "I just wanna say." Well, you're dead now, so shut up."
At the end of the movie there is a surreal musical sequence about "Christmas in Heaven". Michael Palin in drag reveals the meaning of life: "Well, it's nothing very special. Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations. And, finally, here are some completely gratuitous pictures of penises to annoy the censors and to hopefully spark some sort of controversy, which it seems is the only way these days to get the jaded, video-sated public off their f**king arses and back in the sodding cinema. Family entertainment? Bollocks. What they want is filth: people doing things to each other with chainsaws during tupperware parties, babysitters being stabbed with knitting needles by gay presidential candidates, vigilante groups strangling chickens, armed bands of theatre critics exterminating mutant goats. Where's the fun in pictures? Oh, well, there we are. Here's the theme music. Goodnight."
The Man in Pink (Eric Idle) sings the "Galaxy Song":
"The universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding
In all of the directions it can whiz
As fast as it can go
The speed of light you know
Twelve million miles a minute and that's the fastest speed there is
So remember when your feeling very small and insecure
How amazingly unlikely is your birth
And pray that there is intelligent life somewhere up in space
Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth."
