Stars: Maggie Smith, Kristen Scott Thomas, Michael Gambon, Camilla Rutherford, Ryan Phillipi, Helen Mirren, Emily Watson Rated: R Score: 7.5/10
"Gosford Park" is not just a murder mystery - but an interesting look into the various social classes of England early 1900's. Probably something that could apply to any time or place provided there are the wealthy, and there are those in servitude.
Set in 1930 in an English country house, several family and friends gather for the annual shooting party. William McCordle is the head of the house who is getting on in years and the benefactor of many. It seems however he's very insensitive to others needs but his own which creates alot of tension within the family. We focus on a young new Maid who arrives with her lady, unaccustomed to what's expected of her and the secrets and lies of servents and the aristocrats. "Everyone has their secrets" it's said, and in this movie we see just how seperate and yet entertwined these two different social classes are.
Aristocrats rely on servants to do menial things like dressing them to using them as informants to find out what goes on behind other's closed doors that might work to their advantage.
The interesting part of of the film lies not only in seeing how the servents very lives seem to focus around their employers and how different the two social classes are - but how within each group lies their own social structure. One scene has a man asking a servent why some men are lucky, if there is such a thing and why others must struggle their whole lives. And yet the tragedy is how he is oblivious to just how true this statement is standing there before him. And yet even among the servents, they all have their order of importance which is in direct relation to their employers which even decides where they sit at a table.
Ryan Phillipi as a servent, helping Kirsten Scott Thomas helping her out of more than just her dress.
Later he's told he cannot be on both sides, as something is revealed towards the end that leaves everyone feeling exposed.
The murder, which occures halfway to the end of the film after we learn more about the characters - serves as a vehicle to intensify the division between everyone, revealing secrets and in some cases only to the audience. Making the story not just black and white, but complicated intimate details of lives, egos, social expectations and history. It's an interesting "Who done it" that leaves the audience wondering. They all rely on eachother more than they could imagine. The camerawork sways, as we slowly seem to be carried through each scene. The only bad aspect of the film is the amount of characters you have to keep up with..audience members must be cautioned to pay attention.
