The cameras pointed toward no specific area, intended to cause the audience to move their eyes throughout the scene. Among the honored guests are Constance (Maggie Smith), Lady Sylvia's matronly aunt; Ivor Novello (Jeremy Northam), William's cousin who is also a well-known actor and songwriter; and Morris Weissman (Bob Balaban), an American film producer who is friendly with Ivor and researching an upcoming project.
Other jewelry, in the form of platinum cuff links (who wears these?) Knowing this small bit, go see the film and see if you agree. ~ Mark Deming, RoviIs there anyone but Altman who could have pulled off such an effervescent mix of satire, affection, and devastating rebuke? The content below is from the site's 2001 archived pages and reviews from outside sources including Rotten Tomatoes. Con Maggie Smith, Jeremy Northam, Emily Watson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Stephen Fry. Gosford Park "Gosford Park" is the kind of generous, sardonic, deeply layered movie that Altman has made his own. Thompson, like the aristocrats, sets great store by his title and dress (he puffs a pipe that will be recognized by anyone who knows the name Monsieur Hulot). Elsie accepts a ride to Lady Trentham and Lady Sylvia discuss Mrs Croft and Mrs Wilson's long-standing feud, leading Mary to realize Mrs Wilson is Robert’s mother. Dinner At Eight. Andrew Dunn's photography is sumptuous upstairs, while making the downstairs look creamy and institutional. Two roommates/physical therapists, one a vain woman and the other a mysterious teenager, share a bizarre relationship. There is no modern director whose frames are so uninsistently alive and whose sympathies are so gracefully distributed. And the "fags" that are being chatted about are puffed on, so plAltman takes you from one delicious subplot to another, serving up mirth and misery in equal measure and exploring the gulf between the lives of those above and below stairs.An intruguing commentary on the separation of the classes that will bring back memories of The Remains Of The Day.The most leaden and uninteresting threads of the film's first half become the most important elements in the murder mystery.Blends The Rules of the Game, Upstairs Downstairs and Ten Little Indians into a rich feast that will have adult filmgoers licking their chops.An ambitious-but-off-kilter film that desperately searches for but never finds its mark.It bored me so much that I wasn't able to watch it straight through; it took me four attempts to get to the closing credits.Robert Altman expertly depicts pre-WWII British class struggle...There's no better portrait of hierarchical doom.Altman invites an artistic conundrum: Should a movie be considered great if it only fits together after repeated viewings?...the plot seems little more than an excuse to explore textures and generate atmosphere ... to present us with a microcosm of society worthy of Trollope.A scintillating comedy-drama and one of [Altman's] most richly moving and entertaining pictures.I love mysteries and good mystery-films are rare...and I like Maggie Smith!Altman's only film that isn't explicitley American...but even in a dinner drama set in England we cannot escape the Americana that Robert Altman created so brilliantly"Tea At Four. As the guests and their servants depart, Freddie pursues a partnership with Anthony, and Isobel rejects Rupert after overhearing him discuss her inheritance.
That at this late date we hardly need any more smug lefty reminders of the cruelty of the class system?
Themes from the film were picked up and integrated into the series Fellowes says the screenplay was "not an homage to The film was shot with two cameras, both moving perpetually in opposite directions. The labyrinthine relationships among the servants and the upper crust involving sexual infidelities, blackmail, out-of-wedlock children, murder and mayhem are knitted together brilliantly into a wonderfully textured tapestry.The American filmmaker, Robert Altman, takes a witty and absorbing look at the foibles of the British class system in this intelligent murder mystery set in the early '30s. During dinner, Lady Sylvia berates Sir William and Elsie comes to his defence, inadvertently exposing their affair; Elsie leaves the room disgraced while Sir William abruptly exits to the library. 23 in the box office that weekend.The film received critical acclaim; review aggregator On November 26, 2018, Arrow Films released a newly restored 2K remaster, taken from a 4K print of PBS, "Downton Abbey Revisited", TV documentary special to precede season 3
While the servants are required to display a high level of decorum, they are expected to be passive observers who do not comment on what they see, though the gossip among them travels thick and fast once they retire to the servants' quarters downstairs. Mrs Croft comforts Mrs Wilson as Mary says goodbye to Robert, saying nothing about his mother or the murder, and the last guests go their separate ways.
There IS mystery and intrigue, but that's only a small fraction of the film.
And here's yet another example in [i]Gosford Park[/i].
Many critics considered it Robert Altman's best film in more than a decade. Mary confronts Robert, deducing that he became Lord Stockbridge's valet to gain proximity to Sir William and murder him.