Gosford Park Review
by Robin Clifford (robin AT reelingreviews DOT com)January 7th, 2002
"Gosford Park"
It is November of 1932 and Sir William McCordle (Michael Gambon) and his wife Lady Sylvia (Kristin Scott Thomas) are hosting a shooting party for their family and friends at their magnificent country manor, but, unbeknownst to them and their servants, there is foul play afoot. Maestro Robert Altman brings us upstairs and downstairs with the English gentry in his first foray into the murder mystery genre with "Gosford Park."
"Gosford Park" is the work of an accomplished master who is well used to mustering the talents of a large ensemble cast - see "The Player" and "Shortcuts" as examples. Here, the maestro seems to have lost his usual control of his actors, as the story takes on a weird life of its own. What starts off as a look into the "Upstairs, Downstairs" life of a microcosm of pre-Hitler English society soon twists into a sort of "Murder on the Orient Express" meets "The Pink Panther.".
Following a day of quail shooting led by the lord of the manor, the evening celebration at Sir William's (Michael Gambon) luxurious home is abruptly halted when that family patriarch is found murdered in his study. But, there is some doubt as to the manner of Sir William's demise. Although a knife is sticking out of his chest, he appears to have already been dead when he was stabbed. Enter Inspector Thompson from Scotland Yard and things turn silly as the bumbling cop contaminates the crime scene and is without a clue when it comes to forensics. What began as a class study of the servants and their wealthy employers turns quickly to a whodunit, but the viewer is left out in the cold, not caring at all who done it.
This is a huge ensemble cast that do a decent job of creating their period characters, although no one stands out to any notable degree. There are just too many characters for the screenplay (by Julian Fellowes from a story idea by Altman and costar Bob Balaban) to do justice. With so many principal parts (the cast list is, literally, pages long) there is scant time to develop any of the players with more than cursory attention. Sir William is loathed by many and the characters, both gentry and servant, have motive when is comes to looking for suspects to his murder.
The focal character, with whose eyes we watch the drama unfold, is Mary Maceachran (Kelly Macdonald), the naïve maid to Constance, the Countess of Trentham (Maggie Smith), a penniless aristocratic cousin who loathes Sir William but depends on his annual stipend. Their arrival at Gosford Park begins our journey into the lives of the English rich and not-so-rich and their servants. Added to this mix is the arrival of American film producer Morris Weissman (Bob Balaban), who makes Charlie Chan flicks, and his rather strange Scottish manservant, Henry Denton (Ryan Phillippe). Morris, invited by Sir William's cousin, Brit film star Ivor Novello (Jeremy Northam), is researching material for his latest Asian super detective movie, a murder mystery based in an English manor. Irony upon irony builds up as fact follows fiction and mayhem ensues.
The production is on a par with the grandiose casting. The setting of Sir William's manor house is a sumptuous locale and has the opulence to convey the upper class wealth of its nouveau riche owner. Costumes (by Jenny Beavan), too, fit the 30's period setting, depicting an affluence that the upcoming war years will soon change. Cinematographer Andrew Dunn keeps the camera work fluid as he follows all of the many characters through their duties and their deeds.
Helmer Altman is garnering some high praise for "Gosford Park" and I can see why some would laud the effort of the auteur in mustering his considerable filmmaking forces. There is an airiness to the film's mood as it flitters between the many, many story threads but I have a problem with the slightness of the story and the trite manner in which it is told. It is the work of a master but it is not a masterwork. It is an entertaining little ditty, though merely the flexing of this filmmaker's muscle. I give it a B.
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