Withnail & I

Synopsis
Feature film. Black comedy about two down-on-their-luck actors holidaying in the Lake District in 1969. Richard Griffiths, as Withnail’s gay uncle, frequently quotes from Hamlet, and the film ends poignantly with Richard E. Grant, standing in the rain in Regent’s Park, having just said goodbye to McGann, performing Hamlet’s speech ‘I have of late (but wherefore I know not) lost all my mirth’ (II ii) to the wolves. The closing line ‘no, nor woman neither’ is repeated.
Language
English
Country
Great Britain
Medium
Film
Technical information
Colour / Sound
Year of release
1986
Duration
107 mins; 9,659 feet

Credits

Director
Bruce Robinson
Producer
Paul Heller
Cinematographer
Peter Hannan
Screenplay
Bruce Robinson
Music
David Dundas; Rick Wentworth
Cast
Paul McGann& I (Marwood)
Richard E. GrantWithnail
Richard GriffithsMonty

Additional Details

Production type
Fiction Films
Plays
Hamlet
Subjects
Drama
Keywords
Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

Notes

Reviews
Kelly, Aaron & David Salter ‘The Time Is Out of Joint: Withnail and I and Historical Melancholia’ in James R. Keller & Leslie Stratyner Almost Shakespeare: Reinventing His Works for Cinema and Television. (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co, 2004), pp99-112.

Production Company

Name

HandMade Films

How to cite this record

Shakespeare, "Withnail & I". https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/shakespeare/search/index.php/title/av36909 (Accessed 26 Nov 2024)