Gosford Park (2001)

Multiple storylined drama set in 1932, showing the lives of upstairs guest and downstairs servants at a party in a country house in England.

Director:

Robert Altman

Writers:

Robert Altman (idea), Julian Fellowes,

Stars:

Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, Kristin Scott Thomas

Won 1 Oscar. Another 33 wins & 51 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Maggie Smith	...	Constance Trentham
Michael Gambon	...	William McCordle
Kristin Scott Thomas	...	Sylvia McCordle
Camilla Rutherford	...	Isobel McCordle
Charles Dance	...	Lord Raymond Stockbridge
Geraldine Somerville	...	Louisa Stockbridge
Tom Hollander	...	Anthony Meredith
Natasha Wightman	...	Lavinia Meredith
Jeremy Northam	...	Ivor Novello
Bob Balaban	...	Morris Weissman
James Wilby	...	Freddie Nesbitt
Claudie Blakley	...	Mabel Nesbitt
Laurence Fox	...	Rupert Standish
Trent Ford	...	Jeremy Blond
Ryan Phillippe	...	Henry Denton

Storyline

Set in the 1930's the story takes place in an old fashioned English country house where a family has invited many of their friends up for a weekend shooting party. The story centers around the McCordle family, particularly the man of the house, William McCordle. Getting on in years William has become benefactor to many of his relatives and friends. As the weekend goes on and secrets are revealed, it seems everyone, above stairs and below, wants a piece of William and his money, but how far will they go to get it?

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Plot Keywords:

servant | shooting party | murder | money | country house | 

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Taglines:

Tea At Four. Dinner At Eight. Murder At Midnight.

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some language and brief sexuality

Details

Country:

UK USA Italy

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 January 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

Assassinato em Gosford Park

Filming Locations:

Ston Easton Park, Somerset, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$19,800,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$68,666 (South Africa) (6 September 2002)

Gross:

$178,641 (South Africa) (27 September 2002)

Company Credits

Production Co:

USA Films, Capitol Films, Film Council

Technical Specs

Runtime:

137 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Cast members Alan Bates and Derek Jacobi share two roles with each other: Hamlet, and his uncle, Claudius.

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Goofs

In the beginning, in the car, when Mary turns back towards Constance to "see what wants", you see Mary from Constance's point of view and she is turning to look over her right shoulder. Then the camera jumps to looking towards Constance from next to Mary, from the front of the car, and now suddenly Mary is looking at Constance over her left shoulder.

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Quotes

Constance, Countess of Trentham: So what's the gossip in the servant's quarters?
Mary Maceachran: Um, nothing my lady.
Constance, Countess of Trentham: Nonsense. Come on, out with it.
Mary Maceachran: Well, is it true that Sir William could have married Lady Stockbridge if he'd wanted to?
Constance, Countess of Trentham: Is that what they're saying?
Mary Maceachran: Only that Lord Carton was after Sir William for one of them but he didn't care which.
Constance, Countess of Trentham: What would you say if I told you, they cut cards for him.

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Crazy Credits

Location filming at Syon House by kind permission of His Grace The Duke of Northumberland.

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Connections

References The Remains of the Day (1993)

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Soundtracks

"What a Duke Should Be"
(1916)
Sung by Jeremy Northam
Music by Ivor Novello
Lyrics by Clifford Grey
© Ascherberg Hopwood & Crew Limited
By kind permission of Warner/Chappell Music Ltd.

User Reviews

Good Work, as usual...

When Robert Altman makes a new film, it's always a noteworthy event that gets the attention of critics and audiences alike: large productions with huge ensemble casts of major Hollywood movie stars, playing real people with full, fleshed out characters, each with their own subplots that intertwine only subtly, until the end when it all finally makes sense. In Gosford Park, Altman makes only two changes to this formula: Hollywood stars are replaced by Top British talent that may be unfamiliar to most American audiences, and a straightforward murder mystery supplants his traditionally complicated plot line. It is in these changes, however, where Altman charms his audiences in a new way. The story takes place in 1932 at a gathering of aristocrats and their servants for a hunting country weekend at the estate of Sir William McCordle. Some time after all the guests are settled in and whose affairs begin to intertwine, one of them is bumped off. While all the characters are well fleshed out, it's Mary, played by Kelly Macdonald, who is the focus of the drama. She's the maid of Maggie Smith's Countess Constance of Trentham, and is being groomed to follow a path to become head servant. After the murder takes place, emotions unfold and secrets from the past are revealed that help the characters - and the audience - solve the mystery. The drama is even more punctuated when Mary's innocence and naiveté is lost as she pieces together the deeper scandal, involving servant-master sexual relations and bastard children.

One of the best aspects of film is how it illustrates that fine line dividing the master-servant social structures, and how often that line is crossed, reminding us that life is just a game of costumes and masks, and we're all the same underneath. While the story was reminiscent of Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians, where it's the mystery that captivates the audience, Altman goes beyond the mystery with Gosford Park by using the murder as a vehicle to draw attention to the human condition and class hierarchy.

On the downside, but to no surprise to fans of Altman's work, the movie is often hard to follow. His style of filmmaking involves entanglements of characters and subplots that don't appear to have much to do with one another at first blush, and Gosford Park takes this to the next level. Here, the murder takes place at the climax of this confusion, leaving you rather disoriented in the middle of the 2-hour-plus drama. Fortunately, the tone loosens up when a comedy-dim police inspector basically gets nowhere in his investigation, but the pieces start coming together through the other characters. The good news is that it all seems to come together in the end in a way that didn't require grasping every detail of every scene.

Despite its intricacies and confusing moments, there is so much more to Gosford Park that makes it interesting and enchanting. While it is clearly a sophisticated piece of film work with impeccable acting, directing and design, don't stress about not keeping up with it all the time. Sit back and take it in, and you'll feel satisfied in the end.