30 Second Bottom Line: During a shooting weekend at a magnificent estate in the country in 1932 England we learn of the vast differences in the lives of the servants versus the aristocrats. A murder is committed and all seem to be keeping secrets that make them suspects.
Story Line: Lavishly set, costumed and cast, Gosford Park is a movie of epic proportions that languidly unrolls a depiction of society in 1930's England. The aristocracy is intimate with and dependent on their servants. The servants are ranked by whom they serve and in the servants' quarters are called by their "master's" name. There are rules and hierarchy both upstairs and down, and this movie educate us to them. For instance did you know that an Englishman is not served his breakfast, but serves himself? Me neither. So the movie does give us this new awareness and a seemingly true depiction of life at that time. But it does not give us an in-depth portrayal of any individual characters or a truly riveting plot, so we therefore seem to float throughout the massive home of Sir William McCordle (Michael Gambon) and Lady Sylvia McCordle (Kristin Scott Thomas), our hosts for this weekend, frequently getting lost. Who are all these people? That seems to be the mystery here.
There is eventually a murder, an hour and a half into the movie, with very little foreshadowing. There are hints at naughty behavior, but no major moments of malice or evil intent. The murder seems to come as a surprise to us as well as to the guests and their reaction to it is certainly rather contained. Even the victim's widow seems to take her husband's murder in stride, without shedding a tear, and some of the guests are quite relieved in fact. In essence life seems to go on undisturbed, no one seems crushed by a loss of a good pal here. We do learn the truth about who does it and why. It's not who you might expect, and the reason for the murder adds to the sense of this movie being an educational vehicle.
Tell Me More About It: I liked the sense of the period and the complete separation of identity of the servants versus the upper class. There are a lot of characters and in that way this movie strongly reminded me of Renoir's "The Rules Of The Game." The aristocrats take life as a game and the servants focus on anticipating their masters' needs and following the unwritten rules. The luscious estate and costuming is lavishly decadent. The cast is rich and excessive. I was at a lost to really connect to any of the characters, leaving me feeling bored about half way into the 137 minutes. The movie never did grab me, even during the murder itself. I expected more mystery, more intrigue, a gripping who done it, an "I think I got it figured out!" kind of murder. It's not that. It is a period piece that happens to have a murder in it; the murder is quite secondary to the denouement of the film. The movie feels like a tableau of manners reminiscent of "Upstairs, Downstairs" which I guess was wonderful (my mom loved it as "Theater" on TV), but I prefer a sizzling, saucy mystery myself. This is not it, though the cast and setting are superb.
DVD