- No director was better than Robert Altman at reducing the audience to a mere fly on the wall, and I mean that as a compliment. In the case of Gosford Park, we are given the rare opportunity to quietly spy on both the nobility and their servants over a particularly eventful weekend at an English country manor. If the lingering shots of poison bottles, missing knives, and hunting rifles put you in the mood for a good Agatha Christie-style whodunit, that's surely intentional, and it isn't long before the eccentric family patriarch Sir William McCordle (Michael Gambon) is found dead with a knife in his back. In stories like these, one usually assumes the butler did it, but there are so many valets, cooks, and servants (and yes, even a butler) that it's difficult to know where to begin.
- One could imagine Sir William's unloving wife Lady Sylvia (Kristin Scott Thomas) stabbing the old man over his indiscretions with a maid named Elsie (Emily Watson), except for the fact that Lady Sylvia is at least as unfaithful as her husband. Or perhaps it was Commander Meredith (Tom Hollander), whose business ventures hinge entirely upon Sir William's continued funding. Then again, one can hardly rule out Lady Sylvia's aunt Constance (Maggie Smith), whose thorny demeanor masks some real concern about her continued allowance. It's rather more difficult to suspect real-life actor Ivor Novello (Jeremy Northam) or Hollywood producer Morris Weissman (Bob Balaban), although it is strange that Weissman's valet (Ryan Phillippe) is not as Scottish as he pretends to be.
- Which brings us to the servants. None of them had any obvious reasons to murder Sir William, but then again the hired help are expected to keep their feelings to themselves. Certainly Mrs. Wilson (Helen Mirren) and Mrs. Croft (Eileen Atkins) bicker with one another, and it's easy to imagine any of the other "below stairs" workers (Kelly Macdonald, Alan Bates, Derek Jacobi) having some hidden motive for doing the old man in. Perhaps the most suspicious servant is Mr. Parks (Clive Owen), whose sudden arrival and unknown parentage seem like they could factor into events somehow. Like Mr. Weissman, I have no intention of spoiling the story for you, whether or not you ever intend to watch it yourself.
- Just as Altman's The Player was as effective a comedy as it was a satire, Gosford Park somehow manages to function equally well as a ripping good murder mystery, a scathing social critique, and a sly parody of drawing room mysteries. The film's funniest moments arrive courtesy of a bumbling detective (Stephen Fry) who would never be mistaken for Hercule Poirot, while its most affecting moments have to do with parents and the children they've been forced to leave behind. The story's third act is an especially impressive balancing act that finally connects the upstairs and downstairs of the manor in a way that nobody could have predicted from the start. As the film ends, the butler gently shuts the doors, reminding the audience that we were only allowed into this world at Robert Altman's gracious invitation.
- In addition to starring in The Lodger, the real-life Ivor Novello became famous in Britain for his stage musicals.
