Review of Gosford Park (2001) by Kate H — 05 Jun 2012

I can't help but just see the seeds of Downton Abbey in this movie. Not that that's a bad thing but I think the ideas that we're dealing with here are done so much better in DA than they are here. The rest is wrapped up in a tribute to Agatha Christie style manor house murders. First order or business is to establish confusion with so many characters and so many intersecting relationships and motives that finding the killer, whose motive is usually very simple, is a task worthy of the time it takes to unravel it. Now I'm not a big Christie fan but I've always found this sort of story to work better on the page than on the screen. I think it's the repetition of names that helps me there.

Anyway it certainly is a great ensemble performance and a good homage and my own difficulties or preferences don't take that simple fact away. Maggie Smith is, as always, a joy and Stephen Fry as one of the inspectors is perfection.