Susan Granger’s review of “Gosford Park” (USA Films)
Iconoclastic Robert Altman specializes in ensemble pictures and this distinctly Americanized combination of an “Upstairs Downstairs” class-war satire and an Agatha Christie-like murder mystery is one of his best. It’s the fall of 1932, Sir William McCordle (Michael Gambon) and Lady Sylvia (Kristin Scott Thomas), his much younger wife, and daughter (Camilla Rutherford) are hosting a weekend shooting party at their sumptuous country estate. Among the arrogant, elite guests are the daughter’s beau (Laurence Fox), a composer/matinee idol (Jeremy Northam), a Hollywood movie producer (Bob Balaban) and his valet (Ryan Phillippe), along with Lady Sylvia’s two sisters and their ambitious husbands (Charles Dance, Tom Hollander) and her cynically snobbish, imperious Aunt (amusingly played by Maggie Smith) whose inexperienced maid Mary (Kelly Macdonald) provides the innocent eyes through which the story unfolds. The laboring, even more stratified, male household staff (Richard E. Grant, Derek Jacobi, Jeremy Swift, Clive Owen) is headed by the no-nonsense butler (Alan Bates) while the female staff (Emily Watson, Eileen Atkins) is run by the hard-working housekeeper (Helen Mirren). “We’ve all got something to hide,” one servant observes as the devilishly duplicitous characters are implicated in a homicide. Written by Julian Fellowes, based on an idea by Robert Altman and Bob Balaban, the gossipy, scandal-filled drama is character-driven and humorous, despite the fact that whodunit is obvious. Robert Altman’s signature style of overlapping dialogue and improvisation works superbly as does Stephen Altman’s production design. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Gosford Park” is an aristocratic, engrossing 8, a clever chronicle of stiletto-sharp gentility.
