Gosford Park

Altman is known as an expert for maneuvering through huge ensembles of characters and managing to give each one a identifiable personality. To accomplish this task, he lays much of the weight upon the shouldlers of his actors. Oftentimes, Altman just tells them to talk and then he shoots his scene, the camera shifting from character to character, picking up tidbits of conversation that might contribute to his storyline. Each character has a mic, and much of the dialogue is improvised. In this manner Altman gives himself the most options in the editing room. Dialogue is the most important attribute in Gosford Park and Altman treats it as such. Characters have long expositional speechess, and suprisingly, most all the actors are capable of dutifully handling this feat. Gosford is an ensemble piece in the most strict sense of the word. Indeed, there really isn't a main character to speak of.

This attribute allows Altman's directorial prowess to be on display, but it hurts the films ability to have any particular narrative focus. We're not allowed to sympathize with any one character, but are instead supposed to identify with each characters motivations and actions. At times I found this difficult.

The film is primarily a comment on the British class system and such has two groups of characters: the down-to-earth valets and the snobby, regal upperclass. It's obvious we're supposed to like the valets more than the annoying "sophistication" of the rich folk. By the end, however, the script manages to suprise us and throw all our conceived notions out the window.

The film is enjoyable, even if it is inconsistent. I found the first half of the film semi-boring, but the second half very interesting. As soon as that knife plunges through the air it gets pretty captivating. However, half a film of near-genius doesn't make up for an unnecessarily long beginning. Altman is a master of his craft and his powers are often on display in Gosford Park. Unfortunately the film meanders a bit too much in between enjoyable sequences and it keeps going on a little too long. It's a fine film, but it could have been better with a little more use of the editing button.

On a scale of 1 to 10 snobby aristocrats : 6