An array of class and what-not

Gosford Park  (Robert Altman, 2001)

Since my foray into rekindling my erstwhile passion for hard-nose cinema, I had a grand time of being introduced to the revered auteurs of the art whose work I have not had the slightest inkling (e.g. Truffaut, Tarkovsky) or those I have just mostly read (e.g. Bunuel, Kubrick). One of these that intrigued me the most must be Robert Altman whose famous trademark of crisscrossing narratives among his films I have only come to know by secondary sources. I have to admit also that the fact that this revered director never got an Oscar (like Kubrick) add up to the interest. Not that it really matters as I would have come to believe.

Altman’s last film, A Prairie Home Companion, was released last year based from radioman Garrison Keillor’s screenplay. But it would have to be Gosford Park, one of his latest that is touted to etch him as perhaps one of the genre’s best, stamped with his usual adeptness and consistency. In Gosford Park, a number of actors, some forgettable, pass the screen with utmost consciousness and grace that you feel like you’re watching a play. The characters the actors play all have stories to tell and perhaps some secrets to be revealed and Altman treats each one with both lightness and depth.

Most importantly, the film is an examination of class structures as shown by the Upstairs (the lords, the countesses, and an array of supposedly royal descent) and Downstairs (maids, valets and servants) class. The exchanges of the opposites are a sight to behold. The countess-and-maid dynamics of Maggie Smith and Kelly MacDonald is suffused of hilarity and heartbreak as well as the valet-master relationship. If you think that the interplay of class wit and rhetoric is fun to look at up stairs, wait till you see what happens downstairs. The presence of an American director Bob Balaban) among the guests is also a fitting diversion as well as the non-fictional character of British icon Ivor Novello (Jeremy Northam).

This is a great acting ensemble piece which can only pull off given the presence of brilliant British actors some unknown. Helen Mirren plays Mrs. Wilson, the chief maid whose restrained and characteristic enunciations hide a deep-well of emotions and buried secrets. Michael Gambon plays Sir McCordle, the snobbish and irritable owner of the manor whose obviously young wife Lady Sylvia (Kristin Scott Thomas) is a ‘milk-starved’ lady who couldn’t care less when her husband was murdered. Clive Owen and Ryan Philippe (who sports a fake Scottish accent) play valets to Lord Scotbridge and the director respectively – one would turn out to be an actor.

There is always a great challenge with the style and in Gosford Park some characters are easy to forget or if not some exist to emphasize the others’ presence. It wouldn’t be difficult though to notice who arises as the primadona provocateur and what-not. The key to achieving the most from the characters is through keen attention to the dialogue, not disregarding others, or you may not know what the business is all about and find yourself completely baffled in the end. After all this is an English murder mystery, though in the end you’d be so completely enamored by the unfurling of the story and the gracefulness that Altman stamps it with that finding out the truth would be a side dish.