Gosford Park
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| Gosford Park | |
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| Directed by | Robert Altman |
| Produced by | Robert Altman Bob Balaban David Levy |
| Written by | Julian Fellowes |
| Starring | Kelly MacDonald Emily Watson Kristin Scott Thomas Maggie Smith Helen Mirren Clive Owen Ryan Phillippe Michael Gambon Jeremy Northam |
| Music by | Patrick Doyle |
| Distributed by | USA Films |
| Release date(s) | December 26 2001 (Limited in USA) January 4 2002 (USA) |
| Running time | 137 min. |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Gosford Park is a 2001 film, directed by Robert Altman. The screenplay was written by Julian Fellowes, based on an idea by Altman and Bob Balaban.
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[edit] Overview
A period piece, the film is set in November 1932 at an English country house<ref> Locations were filmed at Syon House, Brentford, Middlesex, for upstairs bedrooms, and Wrotham Park, Barnet, Herts. for the staircase, dining room and drawing room.</ref>. A group of wealthy Britons and their American guest—all accompanied by their servants—have gathered at the home of Sir William McCordle for a weekend of pheasant shooting. A murder occurs after a fashionable dinner party. The plot then follows a traditional whodunit format, combining elements of the British murder mystery with those of a comedy of manners.
The film's true central theme, however, is a study of the British class system during the 1930s. In that regard Gosford Park follows in the tradition of Jean Renoir's 1939 film La règle du jeu, as well as the 1970s British television series Upstairs, Downstairs. Many intertwining subplots detail the complex relationships among the characters, both above stairs (the upper-class guests) and below (the servants), and a number of secondary themes are also explored. For example, the film takes a subtle look at sexual mores during the 1930s, and touches on gay issues as well. The film also mentions the decline of the British Empire and the peerage system, the lingering trauma of World War I, and the contrast between British and American customs.
While the story is fictional, the character of Ivor Novello is based on the actor of the same name.
The film stars Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, Kristin Scott Thomas, Jeremy Northam, Bob Balaban, Ryan Phillippe, Stephen Fry, Kelly Macdonald, Clive Owen, Helen Mirren, Eileen Atkins, Emily Watson, Camilla Rutherford, Tom Hollander, Alan Bates, Derek Jacobi, and Richard E. Grant.
Gosford Park won the Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay, and was nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Helen Mirren), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Maggie Smith), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Costume Design, Best Director and Best Picture. It also won the "Alexander Korda award for the outstanding British film of the year" at the British Academy Film Awards in 2002.
The pheasant shooting scene is an homage to the 1939 film La règle du jeu.
Tagline: Tea At Four. Dinner At Eight. Murder At Midnight.
Soundtrack: Composed by Patrick Doyle and Ivor Novello.
[edit] Cast
- Maggie Smith - Constance, Countess of Trentham
- Michael Gambon - Sir William McCordle
- Kristin Scott Thomas - Lady Sylvia McCordle
- Camilla Rutherford - Isobel McCordle, the daughter of Sir William and Lady Sylvia
- Charles Dance - Raymond, Lord Stockbridge
- Geraldine Somerville - Louisa, Lady Stockbridge, little sister of Lady Sylvia
- Tom Hollander - Lieutenant-Commander Anthony Meredith
- Natasha Wightman - Lady Lavinia Meredith, little sister of Lady Sylvia
- Jeremy Northam - Ivor Novello, actor and cousin of Sir William
- Bob Balaban - Morris Weissman, American movie producer
- Ryan Phillippe - Henry Denton, Mr. Weissman's man
- James Wilby - Freddie Nesbitt
- Claudie Blakley - Mabel Nesbitt
- Kelly MacDonald - Mary Maceachran, maid of Countess of Trentham
- Clive Owen - Robert Parks, valet of Lord Stockbridge
- Alan Bates - Jennings
- Richard E. Grant - George
- Helen Mirren - Mrs Wilson
- Eileen Atkins - Mrs Croft
- Emily Watson - Elsie
- Sophie Thompson - Dorothy
- Meg Wynn Owen - Lewis
- Derek Jacobi - Probert
- Teresa Churcher - Bertha
- Jeremy Swift - Arthur
- Stephen Fry - Inspector Thompson
- Ron Webster - Constable Dexter
[edit] Track listing
- Waltz Of My Heart by Ivor Novello
- Mr. Parks by Patrick Doyle
- Gosford Park by Patrick Doyle
- Bored To Sobs by Patrick Doyle
- The Shirt by Patrick Doyle
- And Her Mother Came Too by Ivor Novello
- Walking To Shoot by Patrick Doyle
- No Smoke Without Fire by Patrick Doyle
- Scherzo In G by Patrick Doyle
- I Can Give You The Starlight by Ivor Novello
- What A Duke Should Be by Ivor Novello
- Inspector Thompson by Patrick Doyle
- Pull Yourself Together by Patrick Doyle
- Life Goes On by Patrick Doyle
- Secrets To Hide by Patrick Doyle
- Only For A While by Patrick Doyle
- Rather A Pasting by Patrick Doyle
- Love Jam by Patrick Doyle
- Why Isn't It You? by Ivor Novello
- The Way It's Meant To Be by Patrick Doyle
- Carpe Diem by Patrick Doyle
- Good Luck by Patrick Doyle
- Your Boy's Alive by Patrick Doyle
- The Land That Might-Have-Been by Ivor Novello
[edit] Plot elements
- "Hard hearted randy old sod" Sir William McCordle, industrialist who seems to have bought a title, is "new money". He is married to Lady Sylvia, one of three sisters: The Ladies Sylvia, Lavinia, and Louisa. Their father is an impoverished aristocrat, the Earl of Carton. Sir William is a cad. He is the biological father of Robert Parks with his housekeeper, Mrs. Wilson. Parks was given to an orphanage and only recently understands his birth. McCordle also fathered a child with Mrs. Croft, the sister of Mrs. Wilson, but that baby died.
- Isobel is the hapless daughter of Sir William and Lady Silvia.
- Lieutenant-Commander Anthony Meredith is married to Lady Lavinia. They are the only love match "above stairs". Anthony Meredith has a business deal with Sir William to supply the Sudanese army with boots, which Sir William is planning to pull out of. The latter's death saves the deal.
- Ivor Novello, an actor, is Sir William's cousin; their mothers were cousins and were both teachers. He brings along his a male friend named Morris Weissman, movie producer. Arthur the footman, Mabel and even Mary are all enamoured with Ivor -- or his celebrity.
- Raymond, Lord Stockbridge, a war hero, is married to Lady Louisa. The marriage has caused Lady Louisa to drop in rank order of precedence, as her father is an earl but her husband is only a baron. The order of precedence carries over into the staff in the Servants' Hall. Rumour has it that Louisa cut cards with her sister Sylvia for the marriage with William, this is later confirmed when Louisa comments on her not being lucky with cards; while Sylvia has never felt anything for her husband, it is implied that Louisa would have, and does, feel more for William.
- Freddie Nesbitt, a rake, is married to Mabel, a middle class minor glove factory heiress he married for money but now disdains, having spent all her inheritance. Mabel is disdained or pitied by the others as well, but treated kindly by Ivor Novello. It is implied that Freddie Nesbitt and Isobel had an affair; Isobel terminated the resulting pregnancy, for which a desperate Freddie is now blackmailing her.
- Mary Maceachran, lady's maid, serves Constance, Countess of Trentham, an insufferable snob who is the widowed aunt of Sylvia, Lavinia and Louisa. Lady Trentham's allowance is under threat of being cut by Sir William. At this point in her life, Constance's only pleasures come from food, gossip and Schadenfreude. Mary is Scottish and arguably the main character of the film, since it begins and ends focused on her and also chronicles her discoveries about the underlying realities of her world in the classic Bildungsroman format.
- Jennings, the alcoholic butler, had been a conscientious objector in World War I. He is worshipped by Still Room Maid, Dorothy.
- Elsie is head housemaid and one of Sir William's lovers. It is subtly implied throughout the script and especially at the end that Elsie will become a "star" discovered by Weissman. Elsie takes the ubiquitous Pip the dog with her when she departs the house.
- Robert Parks valets Lord Stockbridge. He is the illegimate son of Sir William and Mrs Wilson and has arguably fallen in love with Mary during the weekend at Gosford Park.
- Henry Denton ostensibly serves Morris Weissman, a Hollywood friend of Ivor Novello, but Denton is really an American actor researching a role and pretending to be Scottish. Denton sleeps with men or women to advance his career or just for fun: Weissman, Sylvia, attemptedly with Elsie and Mary. Mary knows him to be a fraud right away.
- Inspector Thompson is constantly being shown as incompetent by his Constable.
- George the footman and Barnes the valet represent the bratty and disloyal servant archetype while maid Lewis and valet Probert represent the opposite.
- The two young men who arrive late to dinner are Lord Rupert Standish, who is interested in Isobel, and Jeremy Blond, his Machiavellian friend, who later sleeps with Bertha, a kitchen maid. Rupert's rank is never defined, but according to Blond, he is a "younger son with the taste of Marquess and the income of a vicar."
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[edit] Notes
- There is never a still shot in the film. The camera is always in some state of movement.[citation needed]
- Although seen on screen, the words "Gosford Park" are never said in dialogue.
- Many, many characters in the film — both major and minor — can be suspected of being McCordle's murderer either directly or indirectly. We see male legs on the knife-wielder, but of course that man could have been performing the deed on behalf of, say, a disgruntled female. The pool of suspects is further increased when the police realize that McCordle has been poisoned prior to being stabbed: thus anyone within the house in the last, say, 24 hours, could theoretically have administered the poison. By the end of the movie the viewer knows who did the crime, but until that point it is arguably possible to match up a motivation to almost every named character in the house — even the benign ones.
- Lady Trentham remarks to Ivor Novello that his latest film, The Lodger, was a flop. Morris Weissman is in England doing background research for the forthcoming film Charlie Chan in London.
[edit] External links
- Gosford Park at the Internet Movie Database
- Anatomy of a Scene: Gosford Park, from the Sundance Channel website
- Where Did They Film that? Gosford Park
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