Review of Gosford Park (2001) by Michael A Elkana F — 28 Jan 2010

I'm not a Altmaniac myself (Robert Altman movie fan). I don't dislike his films, I just can't name very many that have appealed to or stuck with me very long.

Gosford Park I really did enjoy. It won't be for everybody. It seems an acquired taste.

It's set in an English mansion in the countryside in the early 1930's. The clothes, the hair, the cars... they're all brilliant details that Altman hasn't overlooked.

Besides excellent performances from the entire ensemble cast and beautiful set design etc, I LOVED that Altman does us a favor of not explaining every little thing like we can't comprehend anything without handholding. I loathe that in a movie.

Gosford Park goes so far as to have several different characters seeming to intermingle with what seems accidental or incidental dialogue. It seems like we are privy to their interactions with absolutely no point to them in sight.

The first time viewing it I made the mistake of treating it like a murder mystery and was hellbent on spotting the clues to solve the murder. I assumed it would follow the usual pattern, a sort of an Agatha Christie murder mystery really. But instead of the usual plotlines and the "AH HAH,.. INSPECTOR, WHO DONE IT?" etc,... it's all the relationships, interactions, societal snobbery and exploitation of the lower class that is the point. Second time through I just took in all the selfishness, the class separation and the relations between all the characters and was much happier with it.

In the end, the inspector seems a bumbling fool incapable of solving anything let alone a murder. But all that is less important than all the little details in dialogue we picked up along the way. And after all is said and done...WE end up knowing who done it. And WE know why as well. :).