Gosford Park

I miss Robert Altman.  And just as much as I miss him, I adore his Oscar® winning tale of a murder mystery in a 1932 English country house.

His murder whodunit is not only entertaining but raises interesting class and social issues, as Stephen Holden wrote in his New York Times review:

”Gosford Park” is far more satisfying as social satire than as a mystery. To foreshadow a crime, the camera lingers portentously on bottles labeled ”poison.” And when murder is committed, the movie resorts to the cliché of photographing a suspect from the knees down. The criminal investigation is perfunctory, and the police inspector (Stephen Fry) the movie’s least compelling character. The final revelations, when they pour out, feel like the hoary contrivances of a 19th-century melodrama.

But when ”Gosford Park” is not adhering to a formula, which is most of the time, it is at the top its game. The screenplay is so amazingly concise that if you watch the film more than once (which I would advise), you’ll find barely a word has been wasted. Almost every sentence conveys crucial information, but in a deceptively off-hand style that’s so light it feels like casual banter. And the director’s trademark style of overlapping dialogue that is never ‘’speechy” in a theatrical sense adds to the overall sense of naturalness.

Below is one of my favorite passages of dialogue:

Mr. Jennings: Mr. Meredith.
Barnes: Hmm?
Mr. Jennings: You haven’t seen Commander Meredith anywhere, have you?
Barnes: No.
Mr. Jennings: He never came downstairs and he’s not in his room.
Barnes: Mr. Jennings, I’ve washed him and dressed him. If he can’t find his way to the drawing room, it isn’t my fault.

It is at one point hilarious and at another point it makes an interesting observation about class.

Three cheers for Robert Altman.

Watch this film to see how it pushed the envelope and then takepart with the ACLU to promote immigrant rights - as they are often who are servants are these days.

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