Sam here again

Sam Friedman's movies

Gosford Park (2001)

Directed by: Robert Altman
Writing credits: Robert Altman and Bob Balaban

Movies are my thing as you guys know. This one is like a cross between a Merchant/Ivory production and one of those old “whodunit” films from the thirties. It’s set in the thirties and the whole feel of the movie is one of lush, pre-WWII England—the England for the very rich who weren’t affected by the Great Depression.

We’re introduced to all the characters in the most marvelous ways, and told pretty much everything we think we need to know about them in direct and indirect ways. For example, the characters of Constance Trentham (Maggie Smith) and Mary Maceachran (Kelly MacDonald), who plays Lady Trentham’s lady’s maid, are introduced pretty much at the first. During a pouring rainstorm in not-so-warm England, Mary is expected to stand in the rain, having gotten out the car to help Lady Trentham get the top off of a thermos. Trentham has no regard for anyone but herself, and with one sentence the script tells us all we need to know. While Mary stands in the rain, already soaking wet, Lady Trentham chastises her for leaving the car door open lest she catch her death of cold (hers, not Mary’s). As usual Maggie Smith is great, though she’s a meannie in this film and full of bitterness and cynicism.

What is most amazing about this movie is that it wasn’t better received. The cast is mind-boggling: Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, Tom Hollander, Jeremy Northam, Bob Balaban, James Wilby, Stephen Fry, and Clive Owen to name only a few. Emily Watson has a minor role (if anyone really does in this movie) as a maid! Most will better remember her for the movie “Hilary & Jackie.”

The plot of the movie is a plot-within-a-plot. Bob Balaban, playing Morris Weissman (a tasteless, gaudy American), is doing some research on England for his next picture and has procured an invitation to an English manor house for shooting. While he doesn’t shoot, he’s along to observe. During all this, a murder is committed. It just so happens that the type of film he’s working on is a murder mystery, set in an English country home, just like the one he’s in. As usual, we given a great number of characters to choose from in this genre—to be able to try and figure out who did the actual murder.

This movie is full of so many twists and innuendoes that you’ll have to watch it three or four times to get them all. Most will only want to watch it once, but even so, it’s a fine film. Directed by Robert Altman and based on an idea by Robert Altman and Bob Balaban, the movie probably looks and sounds too inaccessible for the American public whose tastes run more toward the bang-bang, shoot-um-up type of movies. I love this film and I want everyone to know about it.