Part of 2024 In Tribute
GOSFORD PARK is a whodunit as only director Robert Altman could do it. As a hunting party gathers at a country estate in ‘30s England, no one is aware that before the weekend is over, someone will be murdered — twice! The police are baffled, but the all-seeing, all-hearing servants know that almost everyone has a motive. This critically-acclaimed murder mystery features a who’s who of celebrated actors helmed by the inimitable Dame Maggie Smith. With a diverse cast of characters — all with something to hide — it’ll keep you guessing right to the surprising end. In addition to the aforementioned Smith, its cast of cinematic notables include Jeremy Northam, Ryan Phillippe, Kristin Scott Thomas, Clive Owen, Helen Mirren, Michael Gambon, Charles Dance, Dame Eileen Atkins, Richard E. Grant, Lindsay Duncan, Kelly Macdonald, Tom Hollander, David Warner and Stephen Fry. Additionally, Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for his deliciously satirical script.
“A melt-in-your-mouth hunk of 12-layer English spice cake…. Made with an all-star, mostly British cast, it is a virtuoso ensemble piece to rival the director's NASHVILLE and SHORT CUTS in its masterly interweaving of multiple characters and subplots.” —Stephen Holden, New York Times (Dec 26, 2001) “The cast of GOSFORD PARK is like a reunion of fine and familiar actors…. This is like an invitation for scene-stealing, and Maggie Smith effortlessly places first, with brittle comments that cut straight to the quick…. The kind of generous, sardonic, deeply layered movie that Altman has made his own. As a director he has never been willing to settle for plot; he is much more interested in character and situation, and likes to assemble unusual people in peculiar situations and stir the pot.” —Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times (Jan 1, 2002) “As the camera hovers and zooms around the entranceway of a fusty gray estate, gliding in the patented, open-eyed voyeuristic style that Altman has employed since the early ’70s (that style isn’t dated — it’s timeless), Maggie Smith, at the full tilt of her dainty megalomania, exits the estate and climbs into a Rolls-Royce…. The movie might almost be winking at the fact that any single one of [its] performers could easily be the featured star of his or her own upper-crust period piece.” —Owen Gleiberman, Variety (Jan 10, 2002)
