Spotlight

Spotlight Date: 27-April-08
Spoiler Rating: Medium

Gosford Park (2001)

The first time I saw "Gosford Park" I completely missed who committed the murder at its core. When I remarked on a likely suspect to a friend, she told me who the perpetrator was in amazement at my slow-wittedness. I went to see the movie again and, sure enough, the answer to the whodunit was presented plain as day. I can only say in my defense that "Gosford Park," like most of Robert Altman's films, has so many stories going on that it distracted my mind from the central plot. In fact, while it is ostensibly one of those classic mysteries about a mansion filled with people having a motive for murder and a corpse in their midst, it is essentially a tapestry of tales illustrating the solidity and flimsiness of social stratification and human connection.

The junction of so much life is enthralling (in this case, anyway). The titular estate is owned by a British nobleman (Michael Gambon) and his haughty wife (Kristin Scott Thomas) who are hosting a shooting party over several days. Their guests are principally family whom they are obligated to invite, along with the added zest of a Hollywood producer (Bob Balaban) and a movie star (Jeremy Northam) who is also a distant relative of the hosts. As a comic and sometimes sympathetic point of entry for the viewer, an aged spinster (Maggie Smith) lends her supercilious commentary to the affair. While the upper crust are griping and dining in perfectly garnished rooms, a phalanx of servants bustles about as unobtrusively as possible. Some are attached to the great manor, others have come with a guest, and all are relegated to the lower and extraneous regions of the house. They too contribute to its stories, and they are not as removed from their employers as an observer might suppose, or as both sides would like to pretend.

The murder takes its time coming, and by then it is clear that many souls have reasons for hatred and despair, although not always directed at the deceased. While the hosts' tenuous relationship is strained by revelations of infidelity, their daughter (Camilla Rutherford) considers how to respond to being impregnated by a conniver (James Wilby) who despises his sweet but plain wife (Claudie Blakley). Downstairs, the prim housekeeper (Helen Mirren) appears to suffer from a strange fascination with a visiting valet (Clive Owen) and a longstanding rivalry with the cook (Eileen Atkins). A wise and efficient maid (Emily Watson) is sacked for forgetting her place. Nobody knows quite what to do with the odd manservant (Ryan Phillippe) who accompanied the movie producer, and his sexual voracity is either a menace or a boon to ladies of every stripe. As for the butler (Alan Bates), he definitely acts like he did it after the law arrives.

The investigating detective (Stephen Fry) is a bumbling idiot, so unravelling the mystery falls to a tender lady's maid played by Kelly Macdonald. Her questions spring from mingled compassion and curiosity, an approach which describes "Gosford Park" as a whole. There are some real bastards on hand and crimes committed even before the murder, yet most of the characters are defined by the basic flaws and yearnings of their kind (i.e., humankind). In one vignette, a penurious in-law shares a philosophic moment with one of the kitchen staff to whom he has never spoken before and will probably never speak again. Despite the marked boundary between the high- and low-born, they cannot help but come together out of proximity and common impulse. A killing is fine as a centerpiece but not nearly as rich as the messy intersection of people living under one roof.

Copyright © 2008 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.