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
[…] Quartet – Ivory […]