Kelly MacDonald and Maggie Smith in "Gosford Park."

MOVIE INFORMATION

With 10 as a must-see, Jack gives this film a: Stars: Maggie Smith, Emily Watson, Derek Jacobi, Helen Mirren, Michael Gambon and Alan Bates Director: Robert Altman Rated: R, with profanity Length: 137 minutes

ROCHESTERCRITIQUE

Having seen this film, how would you rate it? 10 5 9 4 8 3 7 2 6 1

By Jack Garner
Democrat and Chronicle

(January 11, 2002) -- Gosford Park blends Upstairs, Downstairs and a manor house mystery a la Agatha Christie into a yummy Yorkshire pudding of a film.

It's 1932, and a large blueblood English family has gathered at a country mansion for a weekend hunting party. Soon, it's more than the foxes being hunted.

Adding to the fun is a who's who of English acting nobility including Maggie Smith, Emily Watson, Derek Jacobi, Helen Mirren, Michael Gambon and Alan Bates.

Surprise of surprises, the spot-on direction is by 40-year veteran Robert Altman, the distinctive and distinctly American filmmaker responsible for Nashville, M*A*S*H and The Player.

Delightfully, the 1930s English saga adapts well to the fabled Altman format:

• A large ensemble entangled in a complex web of plots and subplots.
• Characters thrown together in a peculiar landscape, not entirely by choice. Thus, they have conflicting agendas.
• Free-flowing camera and character movement, generated in part by the director's simultaneous use of two cameras.
• Multi-layered dialogue tracks, in which characters sometimes speak at the same time or step on each other's sentences, just as in real life. Altman records his sound live, with several characters simultaneously wired with radio microphones.

Waiting on this assemblage is a virtual army of butlers, manservants, housekeepers, cooks, maids and valets, who are given more than equal time in the saga.

Gosford Park, in fact, is told from their point of view. We're aware of nothing that happens "upstairs" if the folks "downstairs" don't know about it.

The film is at its best as social satire, as Altman and screenwriter Julian Fellowes take every opportunity to expose and skewer upper-class snobbery.

Altman also meticulously explores the relationship between master and servant, delineating the opposing values and attitudes of the English upper and lower classes as the sun was setting on their empire. He offers rich details about how service was conducted in a large country home 80 years ago.

The murder mystery aspect is not quite as successful. Altman's overlapping dialogue and multiple subplots make the film hard to follow.

I've seen the film twice, and I still don't understand how or why a young maid (Kelly MacDonald) has the revelation that explains the mystery.

But who cares? It's more than enough to justify this fascinating and fun exploration of the British caste system.