Gosford Park (2001) - Smith triumphs in Altman & Fellowes' exquisite whodunit

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Scarlet roses and a menu attached to a waiter's backside with the title, tagline and impressive list of stars make up this inviting poster for Robert Altman's Gosford Park

A British family patriarch invites to a grand hunting weekend in 1930s upper class England. The family and their servants cultivate etiquette, gossip and viciousness as usual. But then a murder occurs!...

Gosford Park is written by Julian Fellowes (Romeo and Juliet (2013)), based on an idea by co-producer/co-star Bob Balaban (The Last Good Time (1994)) and co-producer and Missourian master filmmaker Robert Altman (The Delinquents (1957)), whose 33rd feature it was.
It is a wonderful multi-character film with a terrific ensemble of whom especially Maggie Smith (Keeping Mum (2005)) and Kelly Macdonald (Finding Neverland (2004)) impress. Smith is tart and incredibly funny here.
Altman serves the whodunit in a breezy style without giving the misdeed more room than is necessary.
The British social reservation that's integral to Gosford Park may affect my own feelings about it a bit to the cool side, but it is certainly still a splendid picture.

Related post:

Robert Altman: The Company (2003) - Campbell, Turner and Altman's fine ballet picture

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 19.8 mil. $
Box office: 87.7 mil. $
= Big hit (returned 4.42 times its cost)
[Gosford Park premiered 7 November (London Film Festival) and runs 137 minutes. Balaban asked Altman if they could develop a film together in 1999, and upon Altman's response of an Agatha Christie-like whodunit introduced him to Fellowes. Shooting took place in England from March 2001 - ?. Filming took place with two cameras perpetually moving in opposite directions, forcing all actors to stay in character throughout every scene, all of which has at least one servant in them. The film opened #23 to a 241k $ first weekend in 9 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #9 and in 918 theaters (different weeks), grossing 41.3 mil. $ (47.1 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 17.1 mil. $ (19.5 %) and Australia with 4.5 mil. $ (5.1 %). It was Altman's most commercially successful film, following MASH (1970). The film was nominated for 7 Oscars, winning for Best Screenplay. It lost Best Picture, Supporting Actress (Smith and Helen Mirren) to Jennifer Connelly, Director to Ron Howard, all for A Beautiful Mind, and Art/Set Decoration and Costume Design to Moulin Rouge!. It won 1/5 Golden Globe nominations, 2/9 BAFTAs, 1/4 AFI award nominations, was nominated for a César award, 3 European Film awards and several other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/4 star review, translating to 2 notches higher than this one. Fellowes was inspired by the film to create his hit-series Downton Abbey (2010-15). Altman returned with The Company (2003). Smith returned in Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002); Macdonald in Brush with Fate (2003, TV movie), State of Play (2003, miniseries) and theatrically in Intermission (2003). Gosford Park is certified fresh at 86 % with a 7.51/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Gosford Park?

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011) - Elderly Brits meet India in Madden's delightful best film to date

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1 Time Film Excess Nominee:


Best Supporting Actress: Maggie Smith (lost to Agnieszka Grochowska for In Darkness)

The ensemble-stressing poster for John Madden's The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

QUICK REVIEW:

A group of Third Aged Brits travel to India, where they are to live in a cheap home for the elderly, which turns out to be more unfinished than they had imagined.

Best Exotic is a surprisingly good film; an adaptation of Deborah Moggach's (Driving in the Dark (1988)) These Foolish Things (2004) by Ol Parker (The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015)), it has well-written characters and enough stories for several films, but it somehow manages to balance them all in first-rate fashion. English director John Madden's (The Debt (2010)) film also has funny, spot-on India/England observations and an ensemble cast of exceedingly lovable actors:
Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire (2008)) is charming and funny as the Indian host-proprietor; Tom Wilkinson (In the Bedroom (2001)), Judi Dench (Philomena (2013)), Bill Nighy (Notes on a Scandal (2006)) and Penelope Wilton (Match Point (2005)) each play their parts very real and are just super. - And Maggie Smith (Quartet (2012)) is simply divine as the curmudgeon, who SPOILER makes the greatest change of them all.
The film is a little thick at one junction and sort of stretches its dough a little to SPOILER afford us its happy ending. - But what of it, since we really want it.
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is one of the most wonderfully appealing movies of the year.

Related post:

2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 

Two of the first ladies of British cinema, Judi Dench and Maggie Smith in John Madden's The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Londoner Dev Patel is great in John Madden's The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Watch the wonderful trailer for the film here

Cost: 10 mil. $
Box office: 136.8 mil. $
= Huge hit
[Best Exotic, which was filmed partly on location in India, was first shown at the Sorrento cinema trade show in 2011 and was publicly released in early 2012. The film was a smash especially in countries related to Britain; in the UK it made a whopping 31 mil. $ (the 4th highest grossing picture of 2012 there); it was 2012's third highest grossing film in New Zealand (4.4 mil. $) and Australia (21.2 mil. $). It made 46.4 mil. $ (34 % of the total gross) in the US.]

What do you think of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel?
Is Madden's 2015 sequel also good?