Review of Gosford Park (2001) by Brandon H — 01 Feb 2011

Apparently Robert Altman suggests watching this movie more than once. Roger concurs. And I'd have to think that would help quite a bit, it's just that I'm not sure I have the patience to stomach two viewings of "Gosford Park" close enough together to remember all the characters.

I do love the atmosphere. No one creates a realistic party scene like Robert Altman (Woody Allen has done good work like this too, but somehow, his scenes sometimes feel less natural; it's as if we can tell that Woody just asked them to "say whatever" before the cameras started rolling). And the art direction, camera work, and setting is of course wonderful.

I'm just not engaged by any plot, is the problem. It's a great film for what it does accomplish. Contrary to what some of my fellow RT community critics are saying, I believe the characters are interesting, and so are their relationships. Plus, the acting is impeccable all around. Helps that the script is very clever. But the plot never really comes out to drive the movie much of anywhere. Clive Owen's lost mother element arrives a bit too late and too dramatically to feel authentic. The murder also happens late, and is treated so lightly by everyone, from the dead man's wife to the inspector to his killers, that it's hard for the audience to care much about it either.

I've read that this murder isn't there to drive the plot forward. Roger says Altman "stirs" the plot gently around his characters, rather than stir his characters around his plot, like most movie makers. I don't have a problem with this approach. The problem is tension. Just when the film's complexities are fusing together-- a person has died, a person reveals himself to be something other than who he was-- the tension remains flat. I would argue the tension stays at roughly the same level from the first scene to the very last, with only minor ups and downs along the way.

The directorial distance is such that the film gains that realistic "feel," and it has the look and rhythm of a mature, well-constructed movie. But were my brain and body as engaged watching "Gosford" as they were watching, say, "The King's Speech" or "Winter's Bone"? Those were two films both set in austere locations, both character driven, yet they find a way to incorporate plot as an essential component.

"Gosford Park" forfeits plot to succeed in the aforementioned areas. I'd argue this was an exchange that might not have been entirely necessary, although it would have probably required even more length. But who knows. The film is what it is. Don't go in expecting to have your mind blown by a perpetually tense mystery. You could probably get up, go to the bathroom, and come back, and what you would have missed would be a few smart lines, maybe an important glance or two. But you'd be right back in the thick of it. Rather than a "movie," it might be better explained as a "viewing experience." Though it is, admittedly, a good one.