Film Review: The Meaning of Life (1983)

Monty Python is the most influential comedian troupe in the last hundred years or so, if not ever. Yet, despite all of its glory and uncontested position within popular culture, its brand of surreal humour still represents an acquired taste. Difficulties in approaching and appreciating Monty Python’s work are much larger when the its quality is below their high standards and legendary reputation. One such example is Monty Python’s Meaning of Life (or The Meaning of Life), 1983 feature film directed by Terry Jones, which also represents the last on-screen collaboration of all six members of the troupe.

Unlike their previous and the most popular film Life of Brian, The Meaning of Life lacks single coherent plot. Instead, it consists from the series of episodic sketches which are very broadly connected with single theme of life and grouped into sections dedicated to its stages – birth, youth, middle age, twilight years and death. The film is traditionally shown together with Terry Gilliam’s short The Crimson Permanent Assurance, which serves at its prologue and which is referenced in one of its sketches.

Made with relatively high budget, The Meaning of Life had good results at the box office, but the critics were noticeably less enthusiastic than in the case of previous Monthy Python films and that later began to reflect on Monty Python fans. The most obvious reason for that could be found in episodic nature of its film and the comedy sketches that, while presenting opportunity for experiments in style, often vary in quality. There are some brilliant and very funny scenes, there are some scenes that require prior knowledge of British history or some familiarity with educational system and, finally, there are scenes that simply miss their mark, usually due to poor comic timing. Probably the most notorious example could be found in the restaurant scene featuring morbidly obese Mr. Creosote (played by Jones) which very quickly loses its comic value and descends into repetitive exploitation of certain bodily fluids unlike those in Hollywood gross out comedies made by talentless Hollywood hacks in later decades. Such instances of mediocrity and failure are, however, surrounded by eruptions of brilliance, especially in scenes that feature musical numbers. Some of them became legendary, like the “Galaxy Song” and “Every Sperm Is Sacred”. The latter is used the incredibly funny scene that was later in Croatia used as point of reference in debates about reproductive rights and demographic policies. Yet, those little sparks of brilliance and Monty Python magic couldn’t prevent this film from sinking in mediocrity and Meaning of Life ending as relatively failure, which is something that even the members of troupe later admitted. This film in the end can be recommended only to devout Monty Python fans, while the uninitiated should see Life of Brian or the original BBC show first.

RATING: 5/10 (++)

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