Gosford Park

It is not

Maybe you should repost this when you turn 18.

I remember it being such a phenomenon when it was out. Yet it doesn't really hold up, and is very slow, dreadful film. That's why I ask.

How dare you insult Downton Abbey: The Prequel!

This was actually an excellent film that I usually watch once a year or so since it came out when I was 20.

This is the problem with millennials, you enjoy nothing that doesn't represent your world as it is.

If Clive Owen alone didn't make that film watchable......

I swear.... I keep being told by my friends that I change from my friendly, personable self into a total ass when interacting with Millennials, shit like this is why.

It's a wonderful movie, but I think the phenomenal success of "Downton Abbey" has made "Gosford Park" feel like a bit of a footnote. I think many people see it as Julian Fellowes's training ground for the series, even though the film is better.

I was a teenager when it came out. I adored it. Though I haven't seen it since. I thought Fellowes and Altman were ideally paired as writer and director. I guess I was a weird kid - I grew up loving all the big Merchant & Ivory films of the 80s and 90s and Gosford Park felt like the best of them - but sharper and wittier and a little nuttier.

Gosford Park was never a phenomenon, OP . Didn't make a lot of money and was quickly forgotten by the general public.

But it was an excellent film, respected by the critics.

Some themes are close to Downton Abbey, but it is infinitely more biting and critical towards the "ruling class".

I think you should give it a second chance, as an adult.

Christ, it's ONLY 15 years old. I swear, if it doesn't star some twat the media created or it isn't a remake or a fucking superhero comic pap regurge packaged and rammed down your throat you won't watch it.

Plus it had the swoonworthy (and gay???) Jeremy Northam singing songs as gay icon Ivor Novello.

I didn't like Gosford Park when I first saw it, because I didn't get it. But, watching it for the second time changed my mind. Now, after watching it 3 times, I absolutely the movie!

Why didn't Ryan Phillippe show his ass?

Oops, "love" the movie!

Mansfield Park is the superior of the British park flicks. Gosford Park was alright...I guess.

I didn't love Stephen Fry.

[quote]I thought it was slow and dreadful. Is this not the most overrated film of all time.

I condole your lack of intelligence.

I liked it, I like almost everything by Altman...he was a god.

The only real question is who Ryan had to bend over for to get that role.

Love it. Definitely better than Downtown Abbey. All of the women are amazing. Sadly, some of the men aren't. Stephen Fry is absolutely terrible. They needed Hugh Laurie instead. Bob Balaban is annoying. And casting Ryan Philippe gives away the whole twist of his part. We all know he's American with that shitty accent. He replaced Jude Law, right? And that James Wilby (who ruined Maurice) is so ugly to me that I can't imagine anyone wanting to have sex with him.

But the women are so fucking good. Each one has a moment where they really shine. Even that fat tramp down in the kitchen. I've watched it several times and the performance that really grows for me is Emily Watson's. Where's her fucking Oscar?

And Jeremy Northam was gorgeous.

Kristin Scott Thomas is so underrated in this. Whoever invented the term Resting Bitch Face must have been thinking of her, and she gives her best withering stares here.

R19...Totally. That scene where the green dress lady comes and compliments KST...who smiles, checks out her outfit and walks away. Such a bitch. Love her. Gets me every time.

Green? Difficult color, green.

It was the first time I gained appreciation for Helen Mirren. Her performance and Maggie Smith's together make the movie worth watching.

More realistic than Downtown.

It's a pretty fantastic cast all around. Dame Maggie, giving a prequel to the Dowager Countess, steals every scene with even throw away lines.

I thought my fellow DLers would appreciate this:

This thread reminded me that I haven't seen the film in too long; it's one of my favorites. So I slipped off to Netflix to pull it up, and the screen recommended it to me "based on your interest in L. A. Confidential."

Yes. Aren't they just like two peas in a pod?

[quote]and the performance that really grows for me is Emily Watson's.

I hated her in this. She has vagina voice.

I have a love/hate relationship with this film. I was still a kid when I first saw it and I thought it was incredibly slow and boring. I rewatched it a few years later and I really loved it (mostly thanks to all the great performances). But shortly after that I also happened to watch Jean Renoir's Rules of the Game and it suddenly became clear to me that Gosford Park is nothing but an overblown and less witty remake of that movie. So I guess now I hate it again.

I think Altman has said that he was a great fan of Rules of the Game (and you can see how it was an influence on his large ensemble films). Altman could be spotty, but Gosford Park was one of those times when everything came together just right.

R18, ... PLEASE !! James Wilby was the BEST thing about Maurice. His blonde good looks and compelling performance...the hot scenes with Scudder, MADE the movie.

Like Cary Elwes, Wilby is a hot slice of blonde Brit perfection.

One of Altman's best. A wonderful film.

I do imagine you would have to be an adult to appreciate the film. A child or a teenager likely would not have the patience to understand the subtleties of it.

[quote] I didn't love Stephen Fry.

No one does. Not even his much too young husband.

Based on this thread, I put this movie on again. I never realized that Spratt from "Downton Abbey" is in this. Without consulting IMDb, I think he and Dame Maggie are the only cast members who appear in both.

R25, I think the "L.A. Confidential" recommendation comes because they were highly acclaimed movies from the same time period. People underestimate how much release date matters to what you like. A crime drama and a drawing room ensemble comedy from the same era might have greater common appeal than two movies with similar plots released decades apart.

Like most of Altman's great films, Gosford gets better with each viewing. A new layer is revealed every time I watch it. The murder mystery is secondary. There are so many threads running within all the relationships.

To anyone who loved the movie but might have only seen it once: Do yourself a favor. Get the dvd. I've discovered that most dvd commentary tracks are crap consist mostly of the actors giggling and congratulating each other. Not so the Gosford disk.

As I recall, there are two commentaries: one is with Altman and a tech person (?). it's surprisingly boring and uninformative.

But the second commentary is Julian Fellows by himself. He discusses how he wrote it, what his inspirations were, and the backstories of all the characters that are only alluded to on screen. It was fascinating. Possibly the best movie commentary I've ever seen.

Too bad Altman didn't put Shelley in it. She really could have used the work.

I did not try to kill Shelley

r21,

I believe it's "Green, such a tricky color!"

I very much agree with r33. Great commentary tracks (one of them Downton Abbey's Julian Fellows himself). Altman really knew how to create characters and plots and make them more layered and more interesting with each new viewing.

I may be the only one who likes Stephen Fry in this. He's perfect as the "starstruck" police officer who is intimidated by the Upstairs while kissing their asses and acting all high almighty and dismissive of the Downstairs people.

I've watched the film about 5 times since the first time in the theater. I agree with the poster above about Emily Watson. She didn't make as much of an impression on me the first time, especially compared to Maggie Smith, Eileen Atlkins, etc. Now she's my favorite.

When they had the read through Altman placed them in groups and seated Maggie Smith with Jeremy Northam and Claudie Bakley (green dress lady) and instructed her to throw them shade and insults all through the day!

I'll never forget Maggie Smith's appearance on Charlie Rose just after she'd been nominated for the Oscar fo Gosford.

"It's really the only one that matters, isn't it?

This has become my favorite movie to watch before Christmas (even though it has nothing do with the holidays). I find the movie to be perfect and just calms me.

The first time I saw it, I thought it was just ok, now I love it. Maggie Smith is marvelous and so cruel like in this scene:

Constance: How horrid. And who turns out to have done it?

Morris Weissman: Oh, I couldn't tell you that. It would spoil it for you.

Constance: Oh, but none of us will see it.

ALTMAN?...anything.