Gosford Park

[mrpancake]

Just thought I'd start a thread on one of my favorite movies.

Actually I've had a weird love affair with this movie. When it came out, I thought it was going to be pretentious and stupid, and I sort of went to see it to make fun of it. Then, after I saw it, I had generally liked it. My only problem was that it was (and still is!) a complicated movie, and I didn't absorb all of it the first time around. The fact that everyone has very thick British accents, combined with the fact that nearly everything is said in a whisper in association with Altman's classic overlapping dialogue, it is impossible to get everything the first time around.

I missed a lot of the funniest lines the first time because I was trying to figure out what they were saying. I watched again with subtitles and it helped a lot. It made me feel a bit stupid, but it really did help.

I urge anyone who thought this movie was boring to give it a second shot, with subtitles and pump up the volume and give it all your attention, you may like it a bit more!

The cast was perfect, and I loved everyone in it. Not to mention the stunning cinematography, etc. just made it a feast to look at. I love this movie, I'll never get tired of it. There's just so much there!

[plush]

mrpancake said:

I missed a lot of the funniest lines the first time because I was trying to figure out what they were saying. I watched again with subtitles and it helped a lot. It made me feel a bit stupid, but it really did help.

You know, I've seen this once, at the movies when it came out and I remember liking it a lot, but right now I don't really remember why. I'll try to rent it and follow your advice, because I was having problems with the language too.

[heavenleigh2001]

Godsford Park is one of my favorite movies. I love Clive Owens in this movie.

[Deleted]

heavenleigh2001 said:

Godsford Park is one of my favorite movies. I love Clive Owens in this movie.

Kick!

That movie reinforced my love for Mr. Owen.

Eagerly awaiting his next film with Denzel and Jodie on March 24.

[slanderous]

I love this film too, especially the cast (the one slightly sour note for me is Reese's Ryan). I adore Kelly MacDonald and Clive Owen generally, and their chemistry in this film --oh, and that confrontation is his room!-- is amazing. I loved the intricate plot and characterizations, as well as the social and political commentary. (It reminded me of my favorite of the PBS Whatever House reality series, Manor House.) Helen Mirren is, as always, a revelation.

[satellite]

I really liked this movie too. It's also special to me since it's where I first discovered Clive Owen. One of my few "Damn! Who is that ? movies.

[berrybearie]

Such a fabulous cast (Clive, Helen Mirren, Maggie Smith, Emily Watson, Kristin S-T, Jeremy Northam on and on).

I love when Richard E. Grant spills tea on Ryan Phillippe and when Kelly MacDonald says she knows one thing for sure, Phillippe's character isn't Scottish, and that moment between her character and Clive's (he is mad sexy). The servant characters were so much more interesting than the guests/ hosts.

[Deleted]

Mrpancake – I had the exact same problem the first time I saw it! There was so much whispering and murmuring going on and I’ve got horrible hearing anyhow… I had a feeling I’d really love the movie if only I could hear it! So for the first time I went into special features and turned on the subtitles. What a difference! I never went back – I always use the subtitles feature now!

What a shrew the Kristin Scott Thomas character was! When the Bob Balaban character introduced himself as “Weissman” and she looked around the table and repeated, “Weissman…” with this malicious twinkle in her eye… Like, you know, “Get it, everyone? He’s Jewish…” And I don't remember if it was her or the Maggie Smith character who told him to go ahead and describe the plot of his next movie, saying "I'll never watch it, anyhow." But I loved how it didn't really faze Weissman at all. Later he just calmly said to another character, "How can you stand these people?"

Now I feel like watching it again.

[girlnamedcarl]

Gosford Park gave me one of the strongest sensations I've ever had of wanting to stay in the film's world and see what else would happen after the story ended. I think I might have to go ahead and buy that one.

[satellite]

What a shrew the Kristin Scott Thomas character was! When the Bob Balaban character introduced himself as “Weissman” and she looked around the table and repeated, “Weissman…” with this malicious twinkle in her eye… Like, you know, “Get it, everyone? He’s Jewish…”

I agree that she was a shrew, but her attitude wasn't unusual for the time. Apparently in the 1930s there was lots of anti-semitism and quite a few Nazi sympathizers among the British aristocracy. Of course anti-semitism has really been around for ages.