Gosford Park
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Movie Reviews of Gosford Park
Movie Review: The story of a busy day in the life of a perfect servant
Summary: 5 Stars
I finally got around to watching Gosford Park on DVD, which was important for two reasons. First, I could turn on the sub-titles because I was having a hard time following what everybody was saying (a point on which I observe I am not alone). Second, the only thing I remembered about the movie was that we only see the rich folks when the servants are around. This latter point was more important because it meant I did not really remember that the film was about and since I was not the one that picked up the DVD at the store, I did not see the cover with the rather subtle clue as to what would be going on eventually in this tale.Aside: I was going to see this film in the theater after it was nominated for the Oscar for Best Picture, but you see I live in a town where after the nominations came out last year TWO OF THE MOVIES LEFT TOWN. But then, I suppose we should just be grateful they came here at all ("Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" only came to the local "art" theater).
Actually I was enjoying watching the film without worrying what it was about. The cast was weaving their little tapestry, but all those bottles of poison I kept seeing lying around seemed a bit foreboding. No for me it was a pleasant surprise when it turned into a whodunit rather than a character study. Yet clearly this is a quirky whodunit, since the investigating inspector does not get to finish a sentence for about a half hour during the proceedings. He also seems to make a point of not looking at the clues, but that turns out alright because none of the clues are the real clues anyhow.
Besides, it is hard not to figure out whodunit, or at least half of it, which should lead to you figuring it all out, but you are never quite sure. What delighted me about this film was that having figured out not only the "who" but what I thought was the "why," I was pleasantly surprised to find another twist that made for a wholly satisfying conclusion in my opinion.
The cast, of course, is impeccable, which you can tell by the fact that Derek Jacobi is wasted in a small role; he must have wanted to work with Altman. Maggie Smith is at the point where she can play parts like this in her sleep and while her Oscar nomination was a given, I would like to point out that Helen Mirren, the other Oscar nominated Supporting Actress from this film, is probably as good as Judi Dench but has not had the show stopping roles of Dame Judi. Emily Watson and Kelly Macdonald end up being the most sympathetic figures in the bunch, especially since each becomes, in their own way, the center of the storm.
Finally, director Robert Altman's strength in this film is that he stays out of the way of what is going on. After an initial shot where we see Lady Constance's maid waiting by the side of the car in the pouring rain for her Ladyship to get into the car first, I do not think there was another specific shot where it was obvious to me that the director was making me see something. "Gosford Park" is an actors's film and that has usually been the primary constant in Altman's film.
This is not a great film (i.e., one I want to watch again and again), but it is a very good film (rare enough in these times). It may not be your cup of tea, but certainly a film that looks unflinchingly at class distinctions would be well aware that there are two types of people in the world. This is a hit or miss film that you will either love or it will bore you to death.
Movie Review: A Perfect Movie
Summary: 5 Stars
In Gosford Park Robert Altman sets himself an almost impossible task, and pulls off what might be The Perfect Movie. This one has it all: drama (both high and low) and comedy, sex and violence, incredible beauty and vile human ugliness. It has a script that one would think some mid-level executive in Hollywood would have squashed as being more story than could be told in two-plus hours, and it probably needed a Robert Altman both to get the green light for the project in the first place and then to actually pull it off.The setting is a large British country house in the '30s, and the plot centers around the house residents and several wealthy guests and all their servants at the house for a weekend of hunting. Immediately the house is divided between the nobles and the servants, and much of the next two hours' interplay involves this distinct class difference. The guests interact with the house residents and the other guests, while the visiting servants are accommodated by the butler and head housekeeper and head chef of the house. The nobles come downstairs occasionally to give instructions, and the servants are quitely everywhere as the nobles discuss all their dirty little secrets (and make some new ones). All the doings upstairs are duly scrutinized and analyzed by the servant corps, and alliances are formed and fall as events unfold.
This all requires a very large cast (and he could not possibly have cast better--there are too many standouts to mention) but Altman begins with Maggie Smith and her maid and driver, to set the tone and to introduce a pivotal character, and also to ease us into what will shortly be a very hectic scene. We meet a few others as she makes her journey, and she arrives at the house to join the fray. Each character plays a vital part in what begins as a huge and confusing puzzle, and each little story and subplot is essential to the fabulous, three-dimensional whole that is, almost miraculously, birthed at the end.
But that intricacy places some demands on the viewer; indeed, the most common criticism I've seen is from viewers who wander innocently into the fray and never find their way back out. It's a movie that requires rapt attention at all times, but it rewards us by leaving us stunned and breathless not for the body count or special effects but simply for the sheer virtuosity of the story-telling. That he actually pulls it all together in the end is a bit like watching a vaudeville juggler who keeps 18 plates spinning while singing an opera aria and balancing on a beach ball with one foot: you're convinced A) that it can't be done, and B) that even if it CAN be done it won't be accomplished this time! The first time I saw it I was wowed but left the theater still wondering about a couple of the characters. The second time it made much more sense, but I think there are discoveries aplenty to be made by further viewings (which will have to wait for the DVD)!
Movies are about story-telling, and about the human beings in those stories. No special effects budget can take the place of great writing, or of a substantial idea well-executed. But maybe if movies like this are becoming rarer (though it's been a good year for movies) it makes one like Gosford Park stand out from the hail of bullets and reminds us what great story-telling really is.
Movie Review: It'll draw you in and won't let you go
Summary: 5 Stars
What I like about this film is its class. It's so brilliantly directed that the flow of the story is never interrupted. It's balanced, it's witty, it's full of mystery and fun. And it never strays to the realm of the over-the-top murder tales that are full of larger-than-life characters and Clue-esque easy answers. And although very unique in many ways, it does have a somewhat basic storyline (which causes its originality to be much more impressive).A hierarchy of British nobility is visiting a couple in their mansion (and their servants are joining them during the "vacation"). The husband of the hosting couple is a vile man with many secrets that too many of the servants know about (like his many sexual adventures with factory women, who would birth children he could care less about). These events from the past start to seep in and stir up in both the upstairs and downstairs of the old mansion and the murder mystery begins, without a prime suspect.
The emotional undertone of the "evil man," as we'll call him, and the relationship he has with a certain servant allows the film to be much more than a well-directed, well-written mystery. It's socially conscious and it will have you caring about each and every character in a certain way, which may cause some to have favorites (the cast is large enough to do so). I have not seen a film in recent memory that is so successful at pulling you in and getting you involved with the importance of the story as well as its plot. And this immensely advantageous quality is not only because of Robert Altman's direction, interweaving the various plot lines and characters seamlessly. It is also because of the screenplay.
The writing, by Julian Fellows, is intelligent, clever and sometimes down-right funny! It allowed for scenes with many people talking at once to have key moments that you could absorb without the least bit of trouble. You'll know when you need to listen in, and you'll know when a line is meant to be comic relief, or something of that sort. Fellows deserved the Oscar (2001, for best Original Screenplay) completely.
Don't forget the actors. The cast is a sprawling who's who of British (and two American) actors. It includes young soon-to-be-thespians such as Ryan Phillipe and Kelly McDonald, and another rising star: Clive Owen. But the film belongs to three women: Maggie Smith, Emily Watson, and, especially, Helen Mirren. All three never cease adding on layers to their characters, one of which could have suffered from being a cardboard cut-out of a person. Smith is hilarious, Watson does some great internal work, and so does Mirren, who has a killer scene toward the end of the film that will have you sobbing. All three were, in a word, amazing.
Some may say the film stretches along to the point of causing boredom. But you must understand that most of the film is key to the ending, and you'll be sitting there during the credits proud of yourself for catching on. It's just that involving! And that may be the movie's only real flaw: it is too subtle for certain people to "get." Otherwise, the movie is brilliant, dare I say close to perfect? I do dare. It's just that well-made.
Movie Review: A Romp in the Park
Summary: 5 Stars
If one has a choice and is able to play NTSC format, the 2002 Collector's Edition of "Gosford Park" is the one to buy. First, it has subtitles, so one misses not a word of Julian Fellowes' champagne-sparkling dialogue as the actors move in and out of earshot at this Agatha Christie-like weekend house party gone awry. The DVD is also in letterbox format and the transfer is sharp and colourful, so that one can appreciate the luscious costumes, the sumptuous settings, and every detail down to the proper silver fish-fork. Thanks to Robert Altman's subtle direction, the viewer is given the impression that he is a participant, or at least, an eavesdropper, along with the servants, who, like silent characters in a Greek tragedy, are so taken for granted that they might as well be invisible--at least when they are upstairs. It is not until they are downstairs, or up in their cramped sleeping quarters, that they assume their human personae, and we discover that they have as many secrets (and are as rigid in their social conventions) as their "betters" upstairs.
The characters in the film are well-developed, from the wealthy lord of the manor down to the lowly tweeny. With its "A-list" ensemble cast, "Gosford Park" also treats us to the best of British acting (actually, the best anywhere!): where else can we find, in one movie, the likes of Michael Gambon, Maggie Smith, Helen Mirren (in what is, surely, one of her most moving performances), Emily Watson, Eileen Atkins, Tom Hollander, Charles Dance, Derek Jacobi, Jeremy Northam, Kelley MacDonald, Alan Bates, etc., etc.? Laurence Fox even has a small part. And Stephen Fry milks his "Inspector Plod" role for every ounce of humor.
The performance of Claudie Blakley deserves especial notice. In "Gosford Park" she plays the gauche outsider who has infused money into her marriage and is consequently dispised by her well-born but empty-pocketed husband. She is the only one of the "upstairs" guests who emerges as possessing genuine feelings that are not constricted by the "rules" of society. Like a chameleon, Ms. Blakley inhabits her roles so thoroughly and with such sensitivity that she blends into the background of whatever film in which she appears (whether playing a flighty starlet in "Cat's Meow" or a housemaid Martha in "Cranford"). Even though her name might not be on the tips of our tongues (as Mirren's is), Claudie Blakley's portrayals contribute the excellence that we have come to expect from British drama.
Not to be missed is Julian Fellowes' commentary, which surpasses the usual "making of" commentary and could well be utilised in a university course on British social history. He not only comments on the film but he also elucidates the complex composition of the aristocratic household in Britain before World War II.
And while I realise that this film might not be everybody's cup of tea--lovers of action flicks will hate it, the very complexity of the film makes it a delight to watch again and again. With every viewing, one discovers some new delight!
Movie Review: Tea at Four...Dinner at Eight...Murder at Midnight !!!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a Brilliant film....It's a who done it...a great murder mystery...Taking advantage of a splendid cast, a sharply focused script and the fresh English setting, GOSFORD park emerges as one of the most satisfying of Robert Altman's numerous ensemble pictures, What makes the achievement of GOSFORD PARK all the more remarkable is that Mr. Altman is 76....The energy that crackles from the screen suggests the clear-sighted joie de vivre of an artist still deeply engaged in the world,an all-star British ensemble cast, the film recalls both THE RULES OF THE GAME and THE REMAINS OF THE DAY, with a midpoint shift to an Agatha Christie whodunit. In November 1932, a phalanx of moneyed guests arrives for a weekend shooting party at the estate of Sir William McCordle (Michael Gambon) and Lady Sylvia (Kristin Scott Thomas). Mary (Kelly Macdonald), a fresh-faced, naïve new maid accompanies the sniping Countess of Trentham (Maggie Smith), and is shown the ropes by the house's worldly head housemaid, Elsie (Emily Watson). While the masters engage in various financial and sexual intrigues upstairs, the world downstairs has its own curiosities--namely, the predatory valet to a Hollywood producer, Henry Denton (Ryan Phillippe), and the mysterious, cagey servant, Robert Parks (Clive Owen). Mary soon discovers that the image of servants living vicariously through their masters is a false one, and that the upstairs-downstairs worlds are often shockingly interwoven. With GOSFORD PARK, Altman delivers a fascinating, blackly comic look at the treacherous yet poignant gamesmanship between the classes. This is fresh and original movie...very subtle funny...with, scandal, mystery, murder this is a must see.
Synopsis...from Gosford parks Offical Website:
Robert Altman, one of Americas most distinctive filmmakers, journeys to England for the first time to create a unique film mosaic with an outstanding ensemble cast.It is November, 1932. Gosford Park is the magnificent country estate to which Sir William McCordle and his wife, Lady Sylvia, gather relations and friends for a shooting party. They have invited an eclectic group including a countess, a World War I hero, the British matinee idol Ivor Novello and an American film producer who makes Charlie Chan movies. As the guests assemble in the gilded drawing rooms above, their personal maids and valets swell the ranks of the house servants in the teeming kitchens and corridors below-stairs.But all is not as it seems: neither amongst the bejewelled guests lunching and dining at their considerable leisure, nor in the attic bedrooms and stark work stations where the servants labor for the comfort of their employers. Part comedy of manners and part mystery, the film is finally a moving portrait of events that bridge generations, class, sex, tragic personal history and culminate in a murder. (Or is it two murders?)Ultimately revealing the intricate relations of the above and below-stairs worlds with great clarity, Gosford Park illuminates a society and way of life quickly coming to an end.