The Meaning of Life

Terry Jones' Monty Python's The Meaning of Life won the Grand Prix Spécial du Jury at Cannes 1983 — an unusual recognition for a sketch-comedy production, awarded as a special outside-of-competition jury prize. The film is the third Monty Python feature after Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) and Life of Brian (1979), both directed by Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones; The Meaning of Life is Jones' first solo directing credit on a Python feature.

The full Python ensemble — Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin — appears throughout. Chapman would die six years later from cancer in October 1989; The Meaning of Life is his final Monty Python film appearance, with the group reuniting only for occasional charity events afterwards. The screenplay was written by all six members collectively, following the Python writers' room methodology developed across the original BBC series in 1969–1974.

The cinematography is by Peter Hannan and the production was shot largely at Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire with location work across the United Kingdom. The score is by John Du Prez (a longtime Python collaborator who would later score Eric Idle's Spamalot stage adaptation). The film grossed over $42 million worldwide on a budget of approximately $9 million and was Universal's biggest art-house comedy hit of 1983. The opening short film The Crimson Permanent Assurance was directed by Terry Gilliam and is treated as a separately authored prologue.