Year of Release: 2001Country of Origin: UK, USA, Italy
Director: Robert Altman
Cast: Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, Kristin Scott Thomas
Plot outline: Multiple storylined drama set in 1932, showing the lives of upstairs guest and downstairs servants at a party in a country house in England (IMDb).
Robert Altman’s unique mosaic whodunit set during a weekend party at a country house is a cross between Upstairs Downstairs and an Agatha Christie mystery. Altman has a wonderful way of working with large casts of characters (an illustrious British cast with Kelly MacDonald and Clive Owen shining) and bringing something wonderful and unique to the screen when a lesser director would merely bring confusion. While it would take several viewings to keep all characters distinct and know them all, it's perfectly coherent the first time through. Where many movies show and tell only the story at hand, Altman fills the edges of the frame and also the soundtrack with a refreshing richness. And all is not as it seems: neither amongst the bejewelled guests lunching and dining at their considerable leisure, nor in the attic bedrooms and stark work stations where the servants labour for the comfort of their employers. Part comedy of manners and part mystery, the movie is finally a moving portrait of events that bridge generations, class, sex, tragic personal history and culminate in a murder (or is it two murders?). But the murder really only provides an excuse for the characters to reside together for a while, as we get to know them. The camera is always moving, although very subtlely at times; the effect is that we are one of the dozens of the houseguests, catching snippets of conversation wherever we happen to be, missing out on equally intriguing events elsewhere, and finally revealing the intricate relations of the above and below-stairs worlds with great clarity. The result is intriguing and quaintly beautiful. (AG)
My judgement: ***1/2 out of 4 stars
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