Robert Altman films are considered to be amongst the best ensemble pictures out there. Here is a man who can juggle a script with more than a dozen main characters and have them all come out as complete individuals without losing any of them in the shuffle. This was especially true in films like M*A*S*H, Nashville, and more recently Gosford Park. Even his lesser films like Popeye featured a decent ensemble that made that film, flawed as it is, come alive and feel like a real place. This is something you can always expect with a Robert Altman property, and Gosford Park delivers on that level.
The film is advertised as a satirical black comedy murder mystery. That being said, the last part, murder mystery, is a bit of a misnomer. The murder takes place more than an hour into the film, and it’s not long afterwards that the truth is revealed. There is no Hercule Poirot gathering of the suspects while the detective walks you through his entire process before revealing the murderer. We, the audience, learn the truth, but the law does not, and everyone goes their merry way in the end. It’s simply not that kind of mystery. This is not Agatha Christie.
The setting could easily be Agatha Christie’s, though. The film takes place at the palatial country estate, Gosford Park, where Sir William McCordle (Michael Gambon), his wife Lady Sylvia (Kristin Scott Thomas), and their daughter Isobel (Camilla Rutherford) host a shooting party. The guests include Sylvia’s sisters Louisa (Geraldine Somerville) and Lavinia (Natasha Wightman); their husbands Lord Stockbridge (Charles Dance) and Commander Anthony Meredith (Tom Hollander); her aunt Constance (Maggie Smith), Countess of Trentham; the Hon. Freddie and Mabel Nesbitt (James Wilby and Claudie Blakley); actor Ivor Novello (Jeremy Northam) and American film producer Morris Weissman (Bob Balaban); and Lord Rupert Standish (Laurence Fox) and Jeremy Blond (Trent Ford), who arrive later.
Mrs. Wilson (Helen Mirren), the housekeeper, prides herself on being the perfect servant, able to predict the needs of her guests and masters before they even know they need it. She also has a secret known only to her, her sister Mrs. Croft (Eileen Atkins), and Sir William; both she and Mrs. Croft bore children of Sir William while under his employ. While Mrs. Wilson gave up her child for adoption and kept her job, Mrs. Croft chose to keep the child, losing her employment in the bargain. Only when the child died in infancy was she able to regain her employment with Sir William.
Various dramas play out as we learn little bits about the players, including Morris Weissman’s valet, Henry Denton (Ryan Phillippe). He is an American actor posing as the valet, complete with a phony Scottish accent. This is something easily figured out by Mary Maceachran (Kelly Macdonald), since she is legitimately Scottish. Robert Parks (Clive Owen), Lord Stockbridge’s valet, is unknowingly the natural-born son of Mrs. Wilson and may be there for nefarious purposes; Mrs. Wilson thinks so once she figures out his real identity and takes steps to protect her son.
The murder happens well into the film when someone we only see from the waist down comes into the room of Sir William and stabs him in the chest with a knife. Sir William’s lack of a response to the stabbing suggests he may have been already dead when it happened, perhaps poisoned beforehand by a second assailant unbeknownst to the stabber. This sparks an investigation that really amounts to nothing. A few people are interviewed, everyone is forced to stay an additional night, then everyone disperses their own separate ways. We learn the identity of the killer as well as the circumstances surrounding it, but the law never does. This is not a film about justice being dispensed, at least not to the killer.
This is not a laugh-out-loud comedy. It’s a very British film, and the humor comes in the form of jabs at polite society, the various classes of the people, and British customs. A lot of that comes from Morris Weissman, who is clueless about the customs and is doing research for a film he plans on shooting entirely on sound stages in Hollywood. He spends a lot of time on the phone calling back to California and constantly making a big deal about it. He’s also called out for being a vegetarian, something the staff don’t quite know how to handle.
Kelly Macdonald is a standout in this crowded cast as the inexperienced maid to Lady Trentham. While I haven’t seen all of her work, what I have seen has always been impressive. She is playing up her natural Scottish accent, though it is not as pronounced as it was in Trainspotting. This is to help us understand what is going on when she is making the statement that Denton is faking his accent. She is the one who stumbles upon things she is not meant to see, such as an affair going on within the house. She’s also the focus of a rather shocking scene between her and Denton when he attempts to rape her. It’s one of many scenes that makes us dislike his character and suspect him when the murder happens.
Helen Mirren also stands out, here. She runs the staff and has to remain virtually invisible most of the time while those of a higher station do nothing but enjoy their wealth. She also has to hide her realization that Robert Parks is her son, all while protecting him from possibly committing murder. After all is said and done, when he is leaving the house she knows she will not likely ever see him again and it finally gets to her. Her emotional breakdown is hard to watch and it is completely earned.
A great many revelations come out after the murder of Sir William. We already do not like him for a number of reasons, especially how he treats those around him, but once we learn of his numerous affairs and the children left at orphanages, we see that he is far worse a man than just one who is ill-mannered. This is a man who quite frankly deserved to be killed. Thus, we don’t really care that the inspector sent out to investigate the crime, Thompson (Stephen Fry), is a bumbling fool who couldn’t see a clue if it hit him in the face. The constable accompanying him, Dexter (Ron Webster), is far more competent, but his contributions are dismissed by his superior.
There are a lot of backstories explored in this film, backstories that develop the characters but do not further the story. This is par for the course in a Robert Altman movie. Not everything has to be plot-driven. Instead, it makes the whole affair more real and adds substance. To some, this may slow down the film and make it too dry. For me, it added flavor and humor, making the film all the more enjoyable to watch. This is definitely a movie that needs to be watched more than once to get a hang of all the characters and how everything ties together. It’s also needed to pick up on all the subtle, and not-so-subtle, observations Altman is making about the British wealthy in the years just after the First World War. It’s all handled nearly perfectly, as is the immense cast of who’s who in British actors of the early 2000s.
Academy Award Nominations:
Best Picture: Robert Altman, Bob Balaban, and David Levy
Best Director: Robert Altman
Best Supporting Actress: Helen Mirren
Best Supporting Actress: Maggie Smith
Best Original Screenplay: Julian Fellowes (won)
Best Art Direction: Stephen Altman and Anna Pinnock
Best Costume Design: Jenny Beavan
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Release Date: December 26, 2001
Runtime: 137 Minutes
Rated R
Starring: Eileen Atkins, Bob Balaban, Alan Bates, Charles Dance, Stephen Fry, Michael Gambon, Richard E. Grant, Derek Jacobi, Kelly Macdonald, Helen Mirren, Jeremy Northam, Clive Owen, Ryan Phillippe, Maggie Smith, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Emily Watson
Directed by: Robert Altman
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