Such a film of ambitious scale has the faculty of a classic, Gosford Park made certain of that. So the classy auteur Robert Altman, the virtuoso of ensembles, here crafted a sardonical portait of the classes, one that studies greed, snobbery and the exultation of the elite and the exploitation of the servants. It's a dark comedy, a drama, a British murder mystery with a large cast that even Paul Haggis or Steven Soderbergh could not afford gathering together. But just like any other film, it has the light and shade of it, it's own triumphs and faults.

Gosford Park succeeds because of it's genre. It relies heavily on its murder mystery theme with the classic British Sherlockian atmosphere, a very rare nook that films avoid nowadays. Even the texture of the film was brilliantly preserved and its cinematography echoes that of Hitchcock's, befuddling us with landscapes, country houses, dark corridors and eerie staircases. While the story doesn't really shine at its hardest, as it tells the tale of two nobles, Sir William McCordle (Michael Gambon) and Lady Sylvia McCordle (Kristin Scott Thomas), inviting a houseful of guests in their country house for a shooting party, the way it was told was fair enough to keep us holding on to our wits. The characters all entered at the same time, leaving the audience to drop their brains and start guessing who's who, and who plays whom. So the guessing game would continue throughout the film (for daft ones) and the plot suddenly unfolds as murder was involved inside the country house.

It also triumphs as a brilliant study of the classes, bridging the gaps between the rich and the poor, the elites and the servants, the masters and the maids during the post-World War II. It tells the tale of uptight snobbery of the upper classes, and how the servants attend to the needs of their masters despite of it. Right from the very beginning where the character of Kelly McDonald serves as the right-hand assistant of the Countess of Tretham, Lady Constance (played magnificently by Maggie Smith), there's the counterplay between the aristocrats and the poor maids. We were also informed that as the maids prepare the dinner downstairs, the elites gamble and drink booze upstairs; but the interesting thing was that there's so much havoc happening upstairs, with aristocrats and businessmen arguing about financial ruins, economic status, and personal crises than the people downstairs whose more organized.

Now, Gosford Park manages to balance itself, plot-wise. However it nearly stumbled face-first. Since there's so many characters involve, cramming up the individual stories into one tale seemed too intricate for the film itself, it didn't help too much with its labyrinthine plot. But since if you have the skill and vision like Altman, nothing is impossible really, and he pulled off and redeemed himself throughout the film maintaining the sense of balance. But he shows that he's not so much beguiled by plot-making, but rather immerse himself in the profit of characters, situation and landscape.

Then there's the characters: now what other movie can you find nowadays that mixes the Sirs and Dames altogether? There's Sir Michael Gambon, Dame Maggie Smith, who effortlessly pave her way into such a splendid performance with one-liners that's witty, clever and sharply sarcastic. She's in top form and I think in my own opinion, she's the best one in this film. There's also Dame Helen Mirren as the Head Matron Mrs Wilson, whose nonetheless fantastic. Clive Owen, Kelly McDonald, Kristin Scott Thomas, Ryan Philippe (a great one at that!), Stephen Fry, Emily Watson are only a few names of the range of fine actors in this film.

Thus I shall say this film won't be liked by many; it will only be liked by some, especially those who have keen eyes for filmmaking. We don't have to worry about it's plot because as the formulaic British murder mystery films, we won't have to expect something astounding enough to fill our senses. Instead, we have to let ourselves be involve with characters and as Altman puts it, it's like joining a party with guests unknown but when you try to strut around, at the end we know them all. It might not be too personal but acquaintances, they are.


Rating: A-

2007 (c) J.S.Datinguinoo