Gosford Park
2001
****
Director: Robert Altman
Cast: Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, Kristin Scott Thomas, Camilla Rutherford, Charles Dance, Tom Hollander, Helen Mirren, Eileen Atkins, Emily Watson, Kelly Macdonald, Clive Owen, Richard E. Grant, Jeremy Northam, Alan Bates
In the early 1930s, aristocratic guests and their servants gather for a weekend shooting party at an English country estate. When one of them winds up murdered, hidden relationships, class tensions, and long-buried secrets gradually come to the surface. This is a delightful Agatha Christie-esque murder mystery, but Robert Altman is actually more interested in the class divisions and the web of relationships than in finding out who did it. The cast is incredible, and it is no surprise that there are a number of amazing performances by Michael Gambon, Maggie Smith, and Emily Watson, to mention a few. The screenplay by Julian Fellowes won an Academy Award, and inspired a long-running TV show Downton Abbey.
