It is November 1932. Gosford Park is the magnificent British country estate to which Sir William McCordle (Michael Gambon) and his wife, Lady Sylvia (Kristin Scott Thomas), gather relations and friends for a shooting party. They have invited an eclectic group including a countess, a World War I hero, the British matinee idol, and an American film producer who makes Charlie Chan movies.

As the guests assemble in the gilded drawing rooms above, their personal maids and valets swell the ranks of the house servants in the teeming kitchens and corridors below-stairs.

But all is not as it seems: neither amongst the bejeweled guests lunching and dining at their considerable leisure, nor in the attic bedrooms and stark work stations where the servants labor for the comfort of their employers.

Gosford Park has about two-dozen characters and just as many subplots, including a whodunit in the third act. In the hands of a director who has had less experience with such large casts and myriad storylines, this could have spelled big-time trouble. Thankfully, Robert Altman has had some experience with this genre of film. After all, this is the man responsible for such classics as Nashville, The Player,Short Cuts and M*A*S*H that is calling the shots behind the camera here.

For the viewer, this means we can sit back and relax, knowing we are in the company of a professional. Altman's directing is both confident and elegant, seamlessly flowing from story to story and character to character without missing a beat. By bringing out the best in both his cast and Julian Fellowes' intricate, biting and intelligent screenplay, Gosford Park is Altman's best work since The Player.

As for that cast, I'll cut right to the chase and say that there isn't a bad performance to be had here. Among the standouts of this golden ensemble: Maggie Smith as Constance, a sharp-tongued Countess, Kelly MacDonald, Emily Watson, Helen Mirren and Clive Owen as various members of staff to both the house and guests and Stephen Fry, who steals every scene he's in as the rather bumbling Inspector Thompson, sent by Scotland Yard to investigate the murder. In a movie year that saw a bumper crop of great ensemble acting in its second half, this group stands tall above the rest.

You may need a second viewing to sort out all of the people and events of Gosford Park, but you will only need the initial one to be won over. Given the rich dialogue from an award-worthy screenplay that matches the film's golden batch of actors, you may not want to stop there.

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