Above is my movie review of Gosford Park from an author's perspective. I started watching mostly older films to see what I could learn about plotting, foreshadowing, keeping my dialogue tight, etc. It has become a labor of love!
QUICK PLOT SUMMARY WITHOUT SPOILERS:
In 1932, wealthy industrialist Sir William McCordle, his wife Lady Sylvia, and their daughter Isobel hold a shooting party at their country estate, Gosford Park. Lady Sylvia's sisters and their husbands and a few friends are invited to the party as well. The invitees all show up with their lady's maids or valets and the movie gives an inside look at how the division of the classes is handled in a situation like that.
Sir William's cousin, Ivor Novello, who is a movie actor and matinee idol, also comes to the party and gets an invite for a Hollywood Producer, Morris Weissman, who wants to attend the party for his own reasons. That's the setup.
There is a crime that occurs, with a subsequent police investigation that plays out in the movie, but there's much more going on than that. This is really a study of the British class system during the 1930s and how these two classes needed each other, used each other, and what they really thought of each other.
I won't rehash everything I say in the movie review above, but I will say that I would recommend this movie to writers or authors who are interested in learning about:
- Writing social commentary - this movie was written by Julian Fellows who wrote Downton Abbey and he's a master writer. For new writers, pay particular attention to how he writes very serious lines for the actors but sets them up to be comical in his overall social commentary.
- I heard an author say -- and I can't remember who it was unfortunately -- that every storyline needs a mystery of some kind going on to hold the reader's interest. I have since seen this play out in all the best movies. There is a crime that occurs in this movie, but it's not really a who-done-it. But it is enough to keep the viewer watching.
- This is also a great movie to watch if you are planning a large ensemble cast. The more characters there are, the harder it is to get too deep into their character. However, in this movie, Julian Fellows writes dialogue where every line is giving backstory, commentary or moving the mystery plot along. This is a good movie to learn from.
- Wardrobe, costuming and set decorations gets A+ in this movie too.
If you haven't seen the movie yet, above is a panel letting you know who to watch if you're a writer. These characters are very strong and there's lots to learn from their performance.
- Maggie Smith plays a stuck-up aristocrat who is almost always offended and no one on the planet plays this type of role better than she does. When she talks to the actor/singer about his last picture, it's a riot.
- Robert Balaban plays Morris Weissman who gets an invitation to the hunting party that is the setting of this movie. He is an outsider and represents the "Hollywood culture" amid the "British blue-blood culture". His performance is serious but he's also a riot.
- Jeremy Northam played an actor in the movie and I assumed he was picked because he's very handsome. However, he sings in the movie and he was amazing.
- Helen Mirren played one of the servant class and she was very reserved and controlled. However, by the end of the movie, you do see the range of her acting abilities.
WRITING EXERCISE:
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here are many great sets where the action takes place in this movie. A good writing exercise would be to choose one of them and describe it in one paragraph. See how much information you can get into that amount of space.
As you watch the movie above, put the closed captions on and watch how much Julian Fellows gets into every line he writes.