Monty Python's The Meaning of Life
The irreverent Monty Python troupe embarks on a wildly absurd musical odyssey that lampoons every stage of human existence, exposing the hilariously dark truth behind life's ultimate questions.
“It took God six days to create the heavens and the earth...and Monty Python ninety minutes to screw it up.”
Synopsis
Life
Credits
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How many hands made this film
The scale of the collaboration
Principal cast & crew: 31
These are the principals we have on file — the full crew ran to the hundreds. Every film this size was made by far more hands than any credits list ever names.
Why a floor?
This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.
Craft leads on file
Edited by Julian DoyleShot by Peter HannanScored by John Du PrezDesigned by Harry Lange
Box Office
1983 · Box office
💰 Box-office hit — grossed 4.7× its budget
Why 2.5×?
Cinemas keep roughly half of every ticket sold, and a wide release’s marketing often costs about as much again as the film — so a movie needs to gross around 2.5× its production budget just to break even theatrically. It’s a rule of thumb, not the studio’s ledger (home video and streaming come later).
Worldwide gross
$42.7M
US & Canada: $14.9M — 35% of worldwide · International: $27.8M (65%)
Full synopsis
Also known as
- Der Sinn des Lebensde
- Monty Python's Der Sinn des Lebensde
- Monty Pythons - Der Sinn des Lebensde
- Monty Python's Meaning of Lifeen
- The Meaning of Lifeen
- El sentido de la vidaes
- Monty Python : Le Sens de la viefr
- Monty Python - Il senso della vitait
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Cast & Crew
31 unique people credited
Top billed cast
Terry Gilliam
as Various Roles
Graham Chapman
as Various Roles
John Cleese
as Humphrey Williams
Eric Idle
as Various Roles
Terry Jones
as Various Roles
Michael Palin
as Various Roles
Carol Cleveland
as Various Roles
Simon Jones
as Cedric
Patricia Quinn
as Mrs. Williams
Judy Loe
as Nurse #1
Andrew Bicknell
as (Segment "The Crimson Permanent Assurance")
Andrew Maclachlan
as Groom
Supporting cast
11Mark Holmes
as Severed head
Valerie Whittington
as Mrs. Moore
Jennifer Franks
as Bride
Imogen Bickford Smith
as Nurse #2
Angela Mann
as Second guest's wife
Sydney Arnold
as Pirate Captain (segment "The Crimson Permanent Assurance")
Guy Bertrand
as Chief Executive (segment "The Crimson Permanent Assurance")
Matt Frewer
as Cornered Executive who Jumps (segment "The Crimson Permanent Assurance")
Michael Caine
as British Soldier (uncredited) (segment "Fighting Each Other")
Jane Leeves
as Dancer (uncredited)
Luke Baxter
as Dancer
Directors
1Writers
4Producers
1Other crew
7Parents Guide
AI Personalities
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Where to watch
Live · bot-verified- Paramount+Stream
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