The polite society enjoy the hospitality on the surface at least!
|  |
Fantastic cast with an equally fine script, Gosford Park is anUpstairs Downstairs murder mystery which is sure to be a huge success.
Jacqui Vinters
This is the first time that director Robert Altman has journeyed to England and he has managed to create a film mosaic which has all the hallmarks to become a classic.
Gosford Park is packed with a plethora of well known British stars resulting in superb acting. It is also full of subtle nuances which enables the film to work on many different levels.  | | Sir William McCordle hosts a diner party, but will it be his last? |
Plot
It is November, 1932. Gosford Park is the magnificent country estate to which Sir William McCordle (Gambon) and his wife, Lady Sylvia (Scott Thomas), gather relations and friends for a shooting party. They have invited an eclectic group including a countess, a World War I hero, the British matinee idol Ivor Novello and an American film producer who makes Charlie Chan movies. As the guests assemble in the gilded drawing rooms above, their personal maids and valets swell the ranks of the house servants in the teeming kitchens and corridors below-stairs.  | | Downstairs life is just as ordered and complicated |
But all is not as it seems: neither amongst the guests dining at their considerable leisure, nor in the attic bedrooms and stark work stations where the servants labour for the comfort of their employers. A murder (or is it two?) is committed and the detective story begins. Verdict
Getting an insight into the workings of a 1930's estate household is fascinating, and attention to every detail has been meticulously maintained. You pick your way through the story by piecing together snippets of conversation you overhear. Being as inconsequential as the servants, you eavesdrop on the masters and mistresses of the household upstairs, but also have access to the downstairs gossip. The only part for me which jarred is the portrayal of the bumbling police detective (Stephen Fry) who seems to be more of a caricature than a character. Such buffoonery is in stark contrast to the light handed treatment from the other actors. But the film is a moving portrait of events that bridge generations and class and unravels the intricate relationships of both sections of the household. Superb in every aspect. 
| 
