Synopsis:The lives of a group of upper class guests and their servants at a party in 1932 in an English country house are turned on their heads as they investigate a murder involving one of them.
Gosford Park seamlessly combines the thinly veiled vindictive machinations of the British upper class with the complex social alignments of those who serve them. At once an upstairs-downstairs comedy of manners and a whodunit, Gosford Park is a multi-character tapestry in a similar vein to Altman's style-defining works such as Nashville (1975) and Short Cuts (1993) but with a relatively more conventional narrative and directorial approach. The result has just about everything the discerning film-goer could ask for: a bitchy Maggie Smith, an ice-cold Kristen Scott Thomas, Helen Mirren as a humourless keeper of the keys, Richard E. Grant at his eyebrow-raising best, to name but a few, not to mention the obligatory twice-killed corpse, secrets, lies and an innocent-as-pie Kelly McDonald doing her damnedest to tie it all together. The only film of recent years which has a similar roster of characters is P.T. Anderson's Magnolia (1999), which, given Anderson's previously stated love of Altman's work, isn't terribly surprising.
Altman wrings the life out of every second of its running time, deftly structuring a world at once both superficially eloquent (the "upstairs" realm of the esteemed Lords and Ladies) and deliciously tangible (the servants' quarters, seemingly fuelled by acrimonious gossip, the quick fag and more chains-of-command than a federal drug bust). In fact, so balanced is the first 100 minutes, that the murder seems almost superfluous. It's not often that the driving force of a film's narrative is little more than icing on the cake, but this is certainly the case with Gosford Park, described by Altman himself as a "who-cares-whodunit".
As a director, Altman's strength has always been his ability to harness characters from all walks of life, neatly using the disparate threads to weave his tapestry. However, with Gosford Park he seems to have taken the somewhat easier path of exploring the relationships of a group of people who, although not enjoying the company they keep, seem destined to remain together.
With over thirty characters (all of which have individualized dreams, desires, motives and secrets) DOP Andrew Dunn wisely keeps his camera dollied up, prepared to follow conversational snippets for as long as they interest both himself and the audience. While this demands our full attention, it's certainly a refreshing change of pace, with many films these days requiring us to do little else than occasionally "dip in" to see what paper-thin narrative progression is taking place.
However, with a film as busy as this, sacrifices are made, and unfortunately many characters are not given the space needed to fully realise their vicious comic potential. Smith and Kristin Scott Thomas are notable exceptions, letting their acidic retorts fly with malicious glee. Then again, this is British social nobility we're talking about, so cryptic innuendos and veneered insults are the order of the day. Writer Julian Fellowes ties up as many of the loose ends as is plausibly possible, but to his credit, several stones are wisely left unturned.
Both fine and fun, Gosford Park combines haughty with naughty and is a fine addition to the Altman canon.