Gosford Park
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Movie Reviews of Gosford Park
Movie Review: Hollywood grossness versus British aristocratic bleakness
Summary: 5 Stars
Well played and pleasant but absolutely sinister. D.H Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover in reverse. Lady Chatterley is in fact a Lord. And everything is different. The Lord has the right to have as many affairs with the female servants as he wants. He has the right to have as many children with these female servants as he wants and then to have the babies abandoned and sent to orphanages. Absolutely disgusting. And what's more he may keep the servants for further use eventually. When we know that we know the murder of the Lord will be accepted by everyone in his own social class as justified, that they will cover it up for the police not to find out the murderer. And what's more they will have been backboneless enough not to murder him themselves and let the servants murder him. Here Robert Altman imagines a thriller that becomes a vicious denunciation of the deepest hypocrisy you can imagine, that of the British aristocracy. There is little to add to this tale, except that all in all only the servants have the human dignity that provides them with some human feelings, including for the son that has managed to survive and is condemned to remain officially unknown. It is also the servants who have the liking and taste for the Hollywood sentimental and sentimentalese songs that are sung for the entertainment of the ladies and gentlemen who treat that music as some charming accompaniment for their simmering hatred of the world and themselves. Of course Altman also manages to put one note against the Americans in the two characters from California, one having a typically non-Anglo-Saxon name, viz. Weissman. They are vicious enough to infiltrate the servant quarters just for the sake of a film on the very same situation, hence to guarantee the realism of the servants' side of the film. But they are also gross enough to reveal the subterfuge before the end and that reveals too how much the servants hate this indiscretion that reveals their side of ,the household to someone from the other side of the household. The gap between the two social classes that live along to one another in this mansion is wider than the distance between the earth and the moon.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine & University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne
Movie Review: Fantastic British Black Comedy...by an American?
Summary: 5 Stars
Yes indeed!Robert Altman directs this stunning ensemble cast in a film which is "Murder on the Orient Express" meets "Dinner at Eight" meets "Murder by Death".
Set in England in the 1930's a group of high society gathers at one Gosford Park for a hunting party. Among the many guests are Lords and Ladies, a British actor who has made a name in Hollywood, a Hollywood producer (of Charlie Chan films no less) and all of thier valets and maids, all with something to gain, hide or see.
All arrive on the appointed date and settle in to just another weekend of sport, of the outdoor and indoor ilk all which culminates in the murder of the Lord of Gosford Park himself.
As the characters go about thier rountines of country life (the Lords and Ladies indescretions as well as thier valets and maids) we find that there are many suspects and motives to such a crime, including the Lady of the house herself. Every character has something to gain and lose with the demise of the Lord.
There is his sister who has an allowance which is rumoured to be cut off at any moment, played brilliantly by Maggie Smith. There is another Lord who's wife it seems has a very familiar relationship with the Lord of the manor. There is the Lady of the house herself, who was uncerimoniously chosen to be his wife from a card game. The rest of the guests all have reason to be suspect as well due to liasions and impending business ruin. Then, there are the servants, maids and valet's, all of whom are none too saddened by the sudden departure of the Lord from this world.
The film is saturated with dry British humor and even the American, although mocked constantly, manages to get a line in as well on a phone call to his studio when he asks the serious question "Is Claudette Colbert English, or is she just affected?"
It is a not so typical look at the country manor life-style of the seemingly well-to-do and a rather intriguing look at the descretion expected of the servants who are privvy to just about everything with an old-fashioned murder mystery to boot.
Incredible cast, script and direction in this film and worthy of many nods and awards from the academy.
Movie Review: A Murder Mystery, Sort of....
Summary: 5 Stars
Robert Altman's 2001 Academy Award-winning "Gosford Park" defies easy characterization. Nominally a closed house English murder mystery taking place during a 1930's weekend shooting party at a country estate, it features a huge cast of developed characters, a variety of colliding subplots, and highly detailed period sets. Shot in typical Altman style, the camera ranges upstairs among the aristocrats and downstairs among the servants. There is so much going on that the actual murder almost gets lost in the near chaos.
Each of the guests gathering at Sir William McCorkle's (Michael Gambon) estate for the weekend shooting party has an agenda. Many are financially dependent to one degree or another on the coarse and selfish McCorkle. Rivalries are fought out in politely understated but often vicious conversations. Much of the story is told through the eyes of the servants below stairs, headed by Alan Bates as the head butler and Helen Mirren in a magnificent turn as the housekeeper. Each of the servants has his or her stoutly defended place in the hierarchy of the house, and his or her own secrets, which are suspensefully doled out over the course of the film. Clive Owen, a valet with an attitude, will turn out to have both a leading role and surprising connections with several members of the household. Kelly McDonald, as a young lady's maid learning her trade serving a waspish but financially needy Countess played by Maggie Smith, provides an innocent viewpoint on much of the goings-on.
The murder itself is something of an afterthought, ineptly investigated by a pompous police inspector (in a typically humorous performance by Stephen Fry). Its solution will play out among members of the household in unexpected ways that have little to do with law enforcement.
This is a challenging film to watch. Viewers will want to take advantage of the extra features on this DVD for more insight into what is going and how "Gosford Park" was put together. It is in the end a highly entertaining movie, most apt to appeal to fans of Robert Altman's unique movie-making style and to fans of ensemble British movies.
Movie Review: Great, but not for everyone
Summary: 5 Stars
Not to be a snob, like so many of the characters in this great film, but I can see where not that many American viewers will like this movie. I loved it, but I don't think myself too representative of the typical American moviegoer.
First of all, the storyline is slow moving, subtle and moves in many directions at once. Most American multiplex offerings tend to hit you over the head with heavy-handed action, plot twists, fewer actors, fewer subplots, and more (but less subtle) drama.
While I found the acting in "Gosford Park" excellent, especially Maggie Smith's portrayal of a snobby old lady who loves to look down on everyone around her, many lines can get lost in a soundtrack teeming with overlapping dialogue and British and other accents. (I cheated by turning on the subtitles, and it helped me to catch things I probably would have missed.)
For me, much of the movie's appeal stemmed from the many ironies depicted and the viewer's familiarity with British and European history in the decades ahead while the characters are stuck in their 1930s worldview, unaware, for instance, of the coming Second World War, the end of British colonialism, and the general decline of Britain's position in the world. I also liked the way Altman takes a well-worn movie genre, stands it on its head and uses it to make observations about a class of people few of us are truly familiar with but have plenty of preconceptions about, and their behavior and relationships to each other and especially their treatment of servants, all while making a whodunit that would have done Agatha Christie proud.
Altman has given us an entertaining and insightful movie. Unfortunately, it's a movie that not that many American viewers will ever appreciate for the masterpiece of irony and subtlety that it is because not many have heard of it, and few will ever be willing to take the time to watch it.
My only quibble is that the end comes perhaps too quickly and quietly -- well, I am an American myself, after all -- and seems almost anticlimactic. I felt like it was just about to get REALLY good, when suddenly it was over.
Movie Review: An Altman Experiment That Works!
Summary: 5 Stars
Robert Altman's experimental style of throwing a giant ensemble cast into a situation and seeing what they make of it pays off in great measure with this delightful comedy about a giant British manor that is host to many zany guests of different temperaments and personalities. Kristin Scott Thomas and Michael Gambon are the lord and lady of the manor who are entertaining their various relatives and friends for a week-long shooting party, while the servants below stairs clamor to keep up with all the required serving and dressing duties under the direction of the head housekeeper (Helen Mirren). Altman's free-flowing camera follows both the above and under-stairs action until it all comes to a head when a prominent member of the party is murdered by an unknown assailant. Here is where the film takes its most delicious turn: instead of focusing on the mechanics of the murder or concentrating on divulging clues to the audience, the story instead focuses on the reactions by all the other cast members, most hilariously the fact that only one member of the cast, that is the sexy maid played by Emily Watson, actually mourns the deceased. Those looking for a good Mouse Trap-style comedy better rent Clue instead, because this one dispenses of its gumshoe duties early in the investigation process, kicks up its heels and has a great time laughing at its participants. If you're in the mood, or if you're a big fan of the wonderful actors involved, you will too. Kelly Macdonald is perfectly delightful as a visiting servant who lovingly observes the goings-on of the house and brings the plot to its head, and Maggie Smith is a standout as the disgustingly snobbish aunt to Scott Thomas, but probably the most effective performance in the film comes from Mirren-this woman amazes you with the very way she poises herself, ready for duty. The film comfortably resides somewhere just below Nashville or Short Cuts and well above Dr. T and the Women, and unlike Dr. T, the more openly-filmed, improvised scenes blend in seamlessly with the carefully scripted ones, and one can only admire Altman for this immense amount of control that he's shown in his direction with this film.