Gosford Park

Maverick American filmmaker Robert Altman takes a witty and absorbing look at the foibles of the British class system in this intelligent murder mystery set in the early '30s. Sir William McCordle (Michael Gambon) and his wife Lady Sylvia (Kristin Scott Thomas) are a pair of wealthy British ...more

This handsome whodunit-cum-comedy of manners marks a return to form for maverick filmmaker Robert Altman. Set in a sprawling estate in the English countryside circa 1930, the movie gives Altman the chance to do what he excels in -- namely, juggle a cast of more than two dozen actors and weave a coherent, cohesive panorama of human behavior. As with most Altman movies, that behavior is distinguished by frailty and pettiness. The breezy barbarism of "civilized" people is on display, as is the ...more