GOSFORD PARK 2001lecinemadreams.blogspot.com/2013/08/gosford-park-2001.html

Adapting Robert Altman’s trademark, multi-character, freeform narrative style to the formalized structure of a classicAgatha Christie murder mystery is such an inspired concept, I’m rather surprised it took until nearly the end ofAltman’s 50-plus years in film for someone to think of it. But after tackling musicals (Popeye), westerns (McCabe &Mrs. Miller), farce (Beyond Therapy), romantic comedy (A Perfect Couple), film noir (The Long Goodbye), thepsychological thriller (Images), and satire (The Player); a good, old-fashioned whodunit was just about the onlygenre left for one of the more resilient and versatile filmmakers to come out of the New Hollywood.

Robert Altman has been one of my favorite directors since first discovering him in the early 1970s. But following therather (for me) dismal back-to-back entries of Cookie’s Fortune (1999) and Dr. T and the Women (2000), I reallythought Altman had gone the way of that other '70s favorite, Peter Bogdanovich; i.e., dried-up creatively, his bestwork behind him. I was wrong. Like Roman Polanski, Woody Allen, and Martin Scorsese, Robert Altman provedhimself to be one of those directors capable of delivering surprisingly fresh and innovative work well into theirseventies. Indeed, at the ripe old age of 75, Altman’s Gosford Park revealed the director in his finest form since 3Women (1977), delivering not only one of his most solid and fully realized films, but his biggest boxoffice hit sinceM.A.S.H. (1970).

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Maggie Smith as Lady Constance Trentham

Clive Owen as Robert Parks

Kristen Scott Thomas as Lady Sylvia McCordle

Jeremy Northam as Ivor Novello

With Gosford Park, the collaborative efforts of Robert Altman, producer Bob Balaban, and screenwriter JulianFellowes combined to create a marvelously layered re-creation of a traditional English-style crime mystery with adecidedly Altman-esque twist. The twist being that the mystery—a murder taking place during a weekend shooting

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party at English country estate in 1932— is not seen from the point of view of the aristocratic set of relatives andguests, but rather, from the perspective of the servant class, below stairs. It’s a simple yet ingenious device allowingfor the filmmakers to cleverly intermingle the crosscutting stories of some 35 characters while making shrewdobservations on everything from the class system, changing times, sexual mores, social conventions, personalrelationships, and cultural differences.

Helen Mirren as Mrs. Wilson

Alan Bates as Jennings

Emily Watson as Elsie

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Kelly Macdonald as Mary Maceachran

In detailing a strained weekend in the country in which virtually all in attendance have something to hide orsomething they’re after, Altman’s legendary virtuosity behind the camera serves the misleadingly conventional setupexceptionally well. In fact, not since Nashville has Altman’s celebrated “bag of tricks” (overlapping dialogue,peripheral activity, cross-cutting storylines, ensemble cast of characters harboring secrets) seemed so organic tothe material. Ostensibly hemmed in by the rigid constraints of the religiously adhered-to rules of the British socialclass structure, Altman actually comes off as more liberated than ever. There’s something in Julian Fellowes’(Downton Abbey) surprisingly witty, culturally-perceptive script that presses most of Robert Altman’s best qualities tothe forefront (I can’t think of a single director capable of getting us to keep track of, let alone care about, so manycharacters), while suppressing a great many of his weaknesses (the English locale spares us Altman’s fondness forthe easy laugh of hayseed southern accents).

Michael Gambon as William McCordle

Eileen Atkins as Mrs. Croft

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Bob Balaban as Morris Weissman

I saw Gosford Park when it opened in 2001, and, clocking in at a little over two hours, it's a film I was neverthelesssorry to see come to an end (a problem happily remedied by the DVD which contains loads of deleted scenes!). In aworld where I find myself feeling grateful if the film I'm watching at least chooses to rely on smart clichés instead ofstupid ones; Gosford Park is an endangered species: a film that feels like it's shedding the rote and predictable withthe introduction of each new character. Somehow, while still adhering to the genre conventions of an Agatha Christiecrime drama (or, as is referenced in the film itself, a Charlie Chan thriller) Gosford Park manages to confoundexpectations. The comedy is sharp, the drama is well-played and frequently moving, the characters are dimensional,the mystery element engrossing, and its subthemes on class distinctions are poignant and eye-opening.Of course, the biggest surprise of all is that after all these years, Altman is in the best form of his career.

A particular favorite of mine is Camilla Rutherford as Isabel McCordle. She andMabel Nesbitt are characters with story arcs I'd describe as classically Altman-

esque.

WHAT I LOVE ABOUT THIS FILMPerhaps the right word here is “grateful.” What I’m grateful for about Gosford Park is the depth of its intricacy. It's anentertaining film that breezes along, providing both character-based humor and genuinely affecting dramaticmoments, yet Gosford Park has a great deal more on its mind than just providing a solid mystery and a houseful ofsuspects. It's a very smart, observant look at the kinds of surface behaviors and rituals that people engage in orderto mask who and what they really are. And all this is layered atop a social satire and comedy of manners contrastingself-imposed hierarchies of status against those that are socially-imposed. It's a film just brilliant in it's complexity,chiefly because all of these layers play out subtly beneath an outrageously entertaining mystery that is fun to watchin and of itself.From every conceivable angle Gosford Park is a marvel of logistics. So many stories to tell, so many characters, somuch information to impart...and yet, the film feels light and effortless. That Altman is able to deliver to us so manyinteresting characters in so brief a time is a skill he has demonstrated several times before; his being able to do sowhile simultaneously enlightening us as to the myriad duties and rituals that go into the running of an English manorhouse is something else again.

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Gosford Park is a great film for repeat viewings. It's staggering the amount ofsubtle details one misses when first just trying to figure out "whodunit." The

interwoven lives of all the characters become much clearer.

For me, it's such a delight to see a film that asks something of you. That requires your attention, mental involvement,and active participation in following along and picking up on all the pieces provided. It’s great not to have everythingspelled out for you, or to have a camera continually directing your gaze towards where you should be looking andwhy. Gosford Park assumes an alertness from its audience and rewards you with a story that pays off as terriblysharp mystery, crisp comedy, taut character drama, and biting social commentary.

Stephen Fry as Inspector Thompson

PERFORMANCESThe nearly all-British cast assembled for Gosford Park is an eye-popper (Knights! Dames! The inexplicablepresence of Ryan Phillippe!), a fact made all the more impressive by having some of the most distinguished actors democratically blended and divided between the upstairs and downstairs characters. Dame Maggie Smith stealsscenes and looks quite at home as the snobbish dowager Countess (a role that is essentially a dry-run for the oneshe would assume 9 years later in Downton Abbey); but it's great fun seeing Sir Alan Bates as the butler of thehousehold, silently occupying scenes like an overqualified extra; or Dame Helen Mirren, makeup-less and relegatedto below stairs quarters. And as Gosford Park is a murder mystery, such egalitarian casting works much to the film'sbenefit, as it is impossible to play the "billing" game here - attempting to guess the victims and guilty parties basedon star rank.

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Geraldine Sommerville as Louisa Stockbridge (younger sister of Lady Sylvia)Altman films have a reputation for being well-cast, and Gosford Park is no

exception. As was the case with A Wedding, Altman makes it easier for us to tellwho's-who by casting actors who look as if they could plausibly be related

The performances in Gosford Park are so uniformly excellent that it's both pointless and futile to try to single out aparticular actor. I confess to finding Ryan Phillippe to be the weakest link, although even in this instance his blankscreen persona works well within the film's context. Nor am I too fond of Stephen Fry's Inspector Thom...(abovestairs, no one lets him complete his introduction), which feels like another of Altman's risky forays into needlesslybroad farce (think Opal in Nashville). Certainly individual characters and their storylines stand out more than others,but if you're like me, you'll wind up having a different "favorite" each time you view the film.

Claudie Blakley as Mabel Nesbitt, serenaded by Ivor Novello

THE STUFF OF FANTASYThere's no escaping the feeling when watching Gosford Park, that one is watching the most elegant, life-sized gameof CLUE ever! The insular, bygone world depicted is meticulously recreated in the seamless blending of locationsand sets, outrageously gorgeous clothing, and an attention to period detail in makeup and hairstyles that fittinglyrecall the very sort of films from Britain's past that Gosford Park pays homage to.

Derk Jacobi as Probert, Sir William's valet

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All this lavish period-detail fetishism would be off-putting were it not used in service of dramatizing the hugedifference in the lives of the "haves" and "have-nots" of Gosford Park. And this is precisely why Robert Altman hasalways remained one of my all-time favorites; for while the average director would be content to have us ooh andahh over the jewels, gowns, and luxury of the life depicted, Altman matches every loving close-up and perfectlyframed shot of upstairs opulence with a similar shot in the tight and privacy-free servant's quarters. He neverpreaches or tells us what we should feel about it all, but unlike, say, the inappropriately worshipful depiction ofwealth in 1974s The Great Gatsby, Gosford Park captures it all, but with a conscience.

THE STUFF OF DREAMSGosford Park ranks among my top five favorite Robert Altman films. I’m also an avid Downton Abbey fan...a fact thatreally intrigues me. Not only about myself but about America. American audiences aren’t known for taking Britishculture to its bosom, but Julian Fellowes’ tales of servants and the social classes seem to have struck a chord withus.Speaking for myself, I suspect there is something about the distancing effect and “otherness” of British society classstruggles that allows me to be entertained by them in ways unthinkable were these tales told about contemporarywealthy American households with maids, nannies and the like. Here in the U.S. we still have yet to come to termswith our own race-based class systems.Our films and audiences have no trouble humanizing the downtrodden and their plight if they are white; but so muchguilt is attached to our ugly slavery/Jim Crow history that Hollywood tends to mostly greenlight movies in which blackcharacters in servitude exist to reassure white audiences or provide them with white "hero" characters who rescuethe oppressed from the very racist social structures they created.No, as far as America is concerned it can take a Downton Abbey to its bosom because it is infinitely easier for us toculturally process stories which feature white characters both above and below stairs. A lot of uncomfortable subtextis avoided. In my own experience, I can can attest to there definitely being a distancing issue here that makeDownton and Gosford suitably escapist.

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Gosford Park boasts a beautiful musical scoreThere's an absolutely charming sequence where we're shown the servants hidingin the shadows to listen to the music coming from the drawing room. Ironically,

the aristocracy is bored by it, while the lower classes, prohibited from being seenlistening to it, are transported by it.

Were there to ever be a film about slavery in America (or even the recent past of the Jim Crow era or the 1960s) inwhich slaves or victims of systemic racism are depicted not as they usually are (as a social issue), but as fleshed-out, fully-realized characters with the same level of dimensional humanity as the servants of Gosford Park orDownton Abbey – varied, unique individuals granted their resentments and temperaments, people with their ownhopes, personalities, and emotional agonies derived from their life circumstances – I'm pretty sure my heart wouldnever stop breaking.

Copyright © Ken Anderson

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