• Period elegance from Merchant Ivory. Set in 1927, trendy society in New York- but it’s a dog eat dog world—the young and beautiful innocent Isabelle Adjani (great casting) is almost served up as lunch or Red Riding Hood to rich Alan Bates and Maggie Smith
  • Beautiful wallpaper historical décor and detail
  • Not sure they’re in any scenes together in Gosford Park but Bates and Maggie Smith would team up again in Altman’s film 20 years later
  • It’s not Goodfellas but there’s a gorgeous long tracking shot of the three arriving at a party and going down the stars and even shaking hands with the maître d’
  • Graceful zooms in on Maggie Smith in big emotional moments
  • Bates is effective as a bruiser—Smith uses Adjani for her paintings and to profit (socially more than economically) on lies about her background and Bates uses her for sex
  • Like most of Merchant Ivory there’s nudity
  • Hate the sloppy wipe edit for the first time with about 20 minutes left
  • Talk of “playing the game”- very dog eat dog- somber, even leaning on apocalyptic ending
  • Recommend but not in the top tier of 1981