Gosford Park

 

Gosford Park 2001

• Director: Robert Altman
• Also seen by this director: A Prairie Home Companion, Kansas City, Nashville, McCabe and Mrs Miller, M*A*S*H, Bonanza, The Millionaire
• Based on a book: no
• Cast: Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, Kristin Scott Thomas, Camilla Rutherford, Charles Dance, Geraldine Sommerville, Tom Hollander, Natasha Wightman, Jeremy Northam, Bob Balaban, Claudie Blakley, Ryan Phillippe, Stephen Fry, Kelly McDonald, Clive Owen, Helen Mirren, Eileen Atkins, Emily Watson, Alan Bates, Derek Jacobi, Richard E Grant, Sophie Thompson
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Maggie Smith – Downton Abbey, Harry Potter, The Lady in the Van, Hotel Marigold 1&2, My Old Lady, Quartet, From Time to Time, Becoming Jane, Keeping Mum, Ladies in Lavender, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Gosford Park, David Copperfield, Tea with Mussolini, The First Wives Club, Richard III, The Sister Act 1&2, A Room with a View, The Quartet, Oh What a Lovely War, Love and Pain and the Whole Damned Thing, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
• Michael Gambon – Fortitude, Victoria & Abdul, The Hollow Crown, Quirke, Quartet, Harry Potter, Doctor Who, The King’s Speech, The Book of Eli, Cranford, Amazing Grace, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Angels in America, Longitude, Sleepy Hollow
• Kristin Scott Thomas – My Old Lady, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, Contre toi, Elle s’appelait Sarah, Nowhere Boy, The Other Boleyn Girl, Il y a longtemps que je t’aime, Keeping Mum, Man to Man, The English Patient, Richard III, A Handful of Dust
• Camilla Rutherford – Yesterday, Breathe, Absolutely Fabulous the movie, Darjeeling Limited
• Charles Dance – Victor Frankenstein, Woman in Gold, The Imitation Game, Merlin, Starter for 10, Bleak House, Hilary and Jackie, Michael Collins, Alien 3
• Geraldine Sommerville – Quirke, My Week with Marilyn, Harry Potter
• Tom Hollander – Bohemian Rhapsody, Breath, The Night Manager, About Time, Hanna, Gracie, The Soloist, In the Loop, Valkyria, Elizabeth the Golden Age, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Darwin Awards, The Libertine
• Jeremy Northam – The Man Who Knew Infinity, The Eye in the Sky, Glorious 39, Creation, Tristram Shandy, Happy Texas, Amistad
• Bob Balaban – A Mighty Wind, Cradle Will Rock, Swing Vote, Waiting for Guffman, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Mod Squad, Catch 22, Midnight Cowboy
• Claudie Blakley – Cranford, Bright Star, London to Brighton
• Ryan Phillippe – Igby Goes Down
• Stephen Fry – The Man Who Knew Infinity,Hobbit et al, Twelfth Night, Sherlock Holmes a Game of Shadows, Sherlock Holmes, Extras, V for Vendetta, Tristram Shandy, Bright Young Things, Longitude, Black Adder, Whatever Happened to Harold Smith?, Wilde, Jeeves and Wooster, Peter’s Friends, A Fish Called Wanda, A Handful of Dust 
• Kelly McDonald – Train Spotting 2, Harry Potter, The Decoy Bride, No Country for Old Men, Nanny McPhee, Tristram Shandy, The Girl in the Café, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Finding Neverland, Intermission, My Life so Far, Trainspotting
• Clive Owen – Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, Extras, Elizabeth the Golden Age, Children of Men, Derailed, Closer, King Arthur, Croupier,
• Helen Mirren - Woman in Gold, The Hundred Foot Journey, Brighton Rock, The Tempest, The Last Station, The Queen, Elizabeth, Calendar Girls, The Roman Spring of Mrs Stone, Some Mother’s Son, The Madness of King George, The Prince of Jutland, Prime Suspect. Mosquito Coast, Cymbeline, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Excalibur, Hamlet, O Lucky Man
• Eileen Atkins – Beautiful Creatures, Robin Hood, Last Chance Harvey, Cranford, Cold Mountain, The Hours, Wit, Cold Comfort Farm, Titus Andronicus, The Dresser
• Emily Watson – The theory of Everything, Testament of Youth, The Book Thief, The Politician’s Husband, Wah-Wah, Equilibrium, Punch-Drunk Love, Cradle Will Rock, Hilary and Jackie, The Boxer, Breaking the Waves.
• Alan Bates – Hamlet, Quartet, The Rose, An Unmarried Woman, The Mayor of Casterbridge, The Go-Between, Far from the Madding Crowd, Georgy Girl, Zorba the Greek, Women in Love.
• Derek Jacobi - Last Tango in Halifax, Vicious, Cinderella, My Week with Marilyn, The King’s Speech, Doctor Who, Nanny McPhee, Gladiator, Hamlet, Dead Again, Henry V, Hamlet, Richard II, I Claudius
• Richard E Grant – Their Finest, Downton Abbey, Doctor Who, Colour Me Kubrick, Bright Young Things, Keep the Aspidistra Flying, Twelfth Night
• Sophie Thompson – Harry Potter
• Why? The cast
• Seen: Twice before. Now 19 September 2020      

       Just about every actor in the UK is in this film. They’re all gathered for a hunting week-end at this vast country estate.

       Intrigues, secret love affairs, outrageous snobbery, class-conscious gossip, suspicious sneaking and lurking, bickering about money, false identities.

       It’s complex and flows along so quickly that it doesn’t allow you to think. No matter. Not much thought is necessary. The story is a question of Agatha Christie invading Downton Abbey (Julian Fellowes wrote it so that explains part of it). To be honest Agatha Christie is not my cup of tea and I stopped watching Downton Abbey when Matthew died. With a cast like this it should be 5* but it will have to settle for

 3½ * of 5