Gosford ParkThose charming, olden days of the Edwardian-era gentry, the upstairs-downstairs relations, the affairs, the gossip, the manners and mannerisms, and, oh yes, the murder. Certainly, there must be enough drama and intrigue in the backstabbing plots and cutthroat power plays without actual backstabbing and cutting of throats, but it does spice up the soiree following a game of bridge. And Gosford Park is a "whodunit", although it--like many of the film's characters--is in disguise as one kind of drama before we deduce it to be something more than it seems: a commentary about class, about films and film making, even about family.
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Gosford Park is really the unified efforts of a highly talented and carefully crafted collection of people who make this film so rich--not unlike the tale itself--although it is more than the sum of its parts. Signature flourishes of other works by director Robert Altman are immediately present for those who know where to look. From the start, the film moves at a fast pace, as though like Mary Maceachran (Kelly Macdonald)--a rookie Scottish maid with a keen eye for detail, a kind of proto-Nancy Drew--we were thrown into the elite English high life, spending our early moments trying to catch up. And this is intentional; after all, how convincing is it for characters to be isolated and quietly introduce themselves for our benefit, in a house which is scrambling to make everything perfect for the lords and ladies in attendance for the party at the house of William McCordle (Michael Gambon). Characters carry on conversations which only the most dedicated of viewers will be able to glean the significance in its entirety. Between characters discussing which fork goes where, to conversations about money and shoes in the Sudan, Gosford Park embraces and reinvents the tropes of the murder mystery, serving up hors d'oeuvres of red herring at every opportunity. And while these expectations are part of the charm of the film, Gosford Park does not rest on its laurels with feeding us suspects and diverting our attention. Although influenced by the Agatha Christie novels, like "And Then There Were None", the interplay and verisimilitude of the period and setting has more in common with BBC television programs like "Downton Abbey". This should be of no surprise, considering the same creator of that show, Julian Fellowes, also wrote the screenplay for Gosford Park; coincidentally, Dame Maggie Smith plays a sly, snobbish dowager countess in both works. The ensemble cast is not only another hallmark of Altman's, but also of the murder mystery dramas based on the works of Christie, as well.
A lot of the fun of Gosford Park comes from trying to guess the true intentions and inner thoughts of characters who we only glimpse for a moment at a time before we are given another slice of life in the stately house. Sometimes these observations are the scenes of the rich English gentry at play, out on the hunt, at luncheon in the gardens, staged a bit like a play; other times, we are witness to the secrets, the behind-the-scenes events in the servants quarters or the kitchens, with the camera sometimes peering through panes of glass, as though we were spying on the help, casting us as voyeurs. Director Robert Altman has been credited for saying that all he ever learned about film came to him by watching Jean Renoir's The Rules of the Game--itself a French comedy of manners somewhat like Gosford Park--the implication being that this film is his response to film; the movie is self-aware, made manifest in the form of the characters who themselves are representatives from Hollywood in one way or another. One of these is Morris Weissman (Bob Balaban), an effete, proto-Californian flake producer, who is looking to steal ideas for his next Charlie Chan movie about the English upper class right from the English upper class. His efforts--which prove to be surprisingly complex--mirror the events of Gosford Park with eerie acuity, so much so that after the murder takes place and he is on the phone with the studio talking about his movie, he makes mention that it seems that the valet would be the most likely suspect in the story...which results in an unfortunate bit of eavesdropping for the valet Probert (Derek Jacobi) who believes he is the actual killer when the police come to question him. But poor Probert shouldn't have anything to fear--unless he did it--because the detective assigned to the case, one Inspector Thompson (Stephen Fry), is not only of questionable competence--ignorant of clues like mud trailed in or what has and hasn't been dusted for fingerprints--but he seems more or less present just to fill a role of a figurehead, the expected detective who will solve the crime. The problem is that he comes across as an elite fellow himself; and like his upstairs counterparts, he doesn't really deign to look down at the servants for important insights. Gossip is the currency in the world of Gosford Park; when Constance Trentham (Maggie Smith) solicits Mary for gossip about the others in her family, it becomes clear that this is a part of the job, and that the downstairs servants are advantaged with secretive information which could prove deadly in the wrong hands. All of these intrigues, the mystery and the drama, make Gosford Park a complex and tricky mystery and drama, where you should never underestimate anyone, lest they surprise you; but their British, so I suppose they'll at least be sophisticated about it, right?
Recommended for: Fans of a period piece of the 1930s about the classes and service in high English houses, but also a murder mystery with a multitude of characters to suspect and consider before the big revelation comes.
A lot of the fun of Gosford Park comes from trying to guess the true intentions and inner thoughts of characters who we only glimpse for a moment at a time before we are given another slice of life in the stately house. Sometimes these observations are the scenes of the rich English gentry at play, out on the hunt, at luncheon in the gardens, staged a bit like a play; other times, we are witness to the secrets, the behind-the-scenes events in the servants quarters or the kitchens, with the camera sometimes peering through panes of glass, as though we were spying on the help, casting us as voyeurs. Director Robert Altman has been credited for saying that all he ever learned about film came to him by watching Jean Renoir's The Rules of the Game--itself a French comedy of manners somewhat like Gosford Park--the implication being that this film is his response to film; the movie is self-aware, made manifest in the form of the characters who themselves are representatives from Hollywood in one way or another. One of these is Morris Weissman (Bob Balaban), an effete, proto-Californian flake producer, who is looking to steal ideas for his next Charlie Chan movie about the English upper class right from the English upper class. His efforts--which prove to be surprisingly complex--mirror the events of Gosford Park with eerie acuity, so much so that after the murder takes place and he is on the phone with the studio talking about his movie, he makes mention that it seems that the valet would be the most likely suspect in the story...which results in an unfortunate bit of eavesdropping for the valet Probert (Derek Jacobi) who believes he is the actual killer when the police come to question him. But poor Probert shouldn't have anything to fear--unless he did it--because the detective assigned to the case, one Inspector Thompson (Stephen Fry), is not only of questionable competence--ignorant of clues like mud trailed in or what has and hasn't been dusted for fingerprints--but he seems more or less present just to fill a role of a figurehead, the expected detective who will solve the crime. The problem is that he comes across as an elite fellow himself; and like his upstairs counterparts, he doesn't really deign to look down at the servants for important insights. Gossip is the currency in the world of Gosford Park; when Constance Trentham (Maggie Smith) solicits Mary for gossip about the others in her family, it becomes clear that this is a part of the job, and that the downstairs servants are advantaged with secretive information which could prove deadly in the wrong hands. All of these intrigues, the mystery and the drama, make Gosford Park a complex and tricky mystery and drama, where you should never underestimate anyone, lest they surprise you; but their British, so I suppose they'll at least be sophisticated about it, right?
Recommended for: Fans of a period piece of the 1930s about the classes and service in high English houses, but also a murder mystery with a multitude of characters to suspect and consider before the big revelation comes.