Gosford Park Parent Guide

It’s 1932 and Sir William McCordle (Michael Gambon) is hosting a house party at Gosford Park. The guests range from the film star Ivor Novello (Jeremy Northam) to the imperious Lady Constance Trentham (Maggie Smith) to desperate businessman Anthony Meredith (Tom Hollander) to Hollywood producer Morris Weissman (Bob Balaban). They arrive on the estate looking forward to a weekend of pheasant hunting, fine dining, and socializing. But then murder upsets the best laid plans…

The affluent guests aren’t the only ones caught up in the drama. The sometimes fractious servants below stairs are ruled over by the unflappable housekeeper, Mrs. Wilson (Helen Mirren) and her arch-rival, the cook, Mrs. Croft (Eileen Atkins). And their numbers swell as the weekend visitors bring servants with them to share the boot room, the dining room… and bedrooms.

Gosford Park is a murder mystery that doesn’t take itself too seriously, although it never descends into farce or parody. It is strongly inspired by Agatha Christie’s murder mysteries with their abundance of motives and satisfying period detail. And this film has no shortage of motives: a man has fathered children out of wedlock, a woman is having an affair, another woman is being blackmailed by a past lover, a woman is angry with her husband over his prior affair, a man is desperate to conclude a business deal to stave off bankruptcy, a servant isn’t who he pretends to be, another servant has come to Gosford Park to further his own agenda, a servant is hiding a dark secret from the past, and so on. The only thing more challenging than figuring out whodunnit is figuring out why.

Fans of movie murder mysteries will have fun with Gosford Park. The plot is adequate, the sets are lovely, and the costumes are exquisite. But it’s the acting that really shines. In a role that predates her appearance on Downton Abbey, Dame Maggie Smith plays Lady Constance Trentham, an acerbic aristocrat who clothes her stinging barbs in a thin cloak of politeness, to the discomfiture of her conversational victim, and the enjoyment of the audience. Her performance alone is reason enough to watch the film, but it also benefits from the talents of Helen Mirren, Eileen Atkins, Derek Jacobi, Emily Watson, Natasha Wightman, and a score of gifted actors.

Parents considering Gosford Park for family viewing will want to carefully evaluate the film’s profanity, including six sexual expletives, and its sexual content. There is no graphic nudity, but non-explicit sexual activity is part of several scenes and there is a chilling moment when a man tries to sexually assault a woman, who fortunately escapes. There is also almost non-stop drinking and smoking. Ironically, for a movie based on murder, there is little violence except for the stabbing itself, and virtually no blood. As for the messages the movie conveys, the most prominent involve the consequences of oppressing those who are powerless to resist.

Fans of period drama will be intrigued with Gosford Park’s trenchant observations on the British class system but this bit of social history won’t overshadow the film’s ability to provide a fun cinematic escape. And that’s what Gosford Park does best: it provides an escape to the past for viewers who want to soak up the bygone glory and think (but not too hard) about whodunnit.