Short Cuts meets Murder on the Orient Express (Gosford Park (DVD))

Member Name: george_lazenby

Product:	Gosford Park (DVD)
Date:	07/02/02 (86 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Brilliant cast, stunning direction

Disadvantages: Mrs Lazenby was right and I was wrong

So this weekend, we had that rarest of domestic disputes - what to see at the pictures. Mrs Lazenby most assuredly did not want to see 'Training Day', and I most definitely did not want to see 'Gosford Park' (you are probably way ahead of me). We managed to get all the way to the cinema queue, and still, neither had given in. We even debated seeing 'Shallow Hal', on the basis that both of us would hate it in equal measure. But I had a problem - unquestionably, we see more films that I want to see than she does, and I knew that if it came right down to it, I would have to give in. I was just working on the possibility that she might give in early.

But with an Altman-esque disregard for the conventions of storytelling, I have already let you in on the result of this mystery, as you already know you're reading a review of 'Gosford Park'. But in tribute to the master of non-narrative, character-driven film, I am not going to review it quite yet. It was Maggie Smith who put me off. I have seen Dame Maggie in 'Harry Potter' quite recently, and another dose was most unwelcome. Moreover, I have a feeling that Altman, having worked up a remarkable head of steam with 'The Player' and 'Short Cuts', had somehow lost it with such drivel as 'The Gingerbread Man' and 'Dr T and the Women', notwithstanding minor pleasures like 'Kansas City'.

But finally, I deliver: this is a dazzling film. It requires, like this review has done, patience, but it is nevertheless a brilliant piece of filmmaking, encompassing all that is most satisfying about Altman's approach, and none of his flaws. It is neither offhand or callous, and is brilliantly acted, superbly directed and cut, and using his trademarks of overlapping dialogue and a godlike perspectivel, able to zoom in and out of a dozen stories.

Altman and the character actor Bob Balaban dreamed the idea up - a country house murde
r mystery packed with plots and subplots, a sharp satire on the upstairs-downstairs social caste system which is gradually dying out in Britain, but which still fascinates Americans. Sir William (Michael Gambon) assembles a shooting party which includes a US film producer (Balaban), the singer Ivor Novello (Jeremy Northam), a duchess (Smith) and various squabbling members of the extended family (Charles Dance, Tom Hollander, James Wilby). Meanwhile, below stairs, Balaban's Scottish valet (Ryan Phillipe) is ruffling the feathers of assorted servants (the stellar cast here includes Emily Watson, Richard E. Grant, Alan Bates, Helen Mirren, Clive Owen and Eileen Atkins).

When the murderer's knife falls, Altman doesn't care where, and he deliberately drops clues all over the place. The mystery isn't bad, but it'll prove no match for the mystery-literate UK audience reared on Poirot and Inspector Morse. I won't bother going into it - it's fun to see where he's going, but Altman really cares about the opportunity to explore the fireworks which explode from snobbery (upwards and downwards), infidelity and dishonesty. Like a lot of his films, there are some grotesque and despicable characters - Smith, Wilby, Gambon - while some of the most sympathetic are the most put-upon, the most abused. But a welter of superb performances, dialogue so sharp you could cut yourself on it, and the eye of a master observer ranging on a veritable human zoo makes for an exceptionally entertaining experience.

In the end, it's tempting to suspect that Altman has spent thirty long years gazing laconically on his countrymen and women, and finally, after the false start of 'Pret A Porter' (you can't satirise something as outré as fashion), he's stretching out and trying his hand on something different. Having completely given up on him as a creative force, 'Gosford Park' makes me think that Robert Altman still wields his
most potent weapon - the power to surprise - with accuracy, and if he can continue to attract casts of this calibre, his glory days may well not be behind him.

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