History Film / GosfordPark

** The stone cold houskeeper Mrs Wilson is this for the downstairs, barely showing an inch of emotion [[spoilers: even to her own son, and sister]]. In a way she is almost acting as a mirror of Lady Sylvia.

* ContrivedClumsiness: After a man posing as a servant reveals himself to be an actor and moves from "below stairs" to "above stairs". To punish him for his deception, a footman spills hot coffee in his lap. He immediately accuses the servant of doing it on purpose, but it's futile at that point. His fellow servants quickly hide their smiles, and the aristocrats think it's pretty funny, too.

* GenteelInterbellumSetting

The screenplay is by Creator/JulianFellowes, who would later create the popular British television drama ''Series/DowntonAbbey''. Like ''Gosford Park'', it would be set in an English manor house and star Maggie Smith.

* CrazyPrepared: [[spoiler: Mrs Wilson poisoned Sir William's coffee but, when he knocked the cup to the floor and asked for a different drink, she had brought the poison with her and was able to use it]].
* CreepyHousekeeper: Mrs Wilson. Robert Altman mentions on the commentary that the only direction he gave to Helen Mirren was to think about Mrs Danvers from ''Film/{{Rebecca}}''. Mrs Danvers served as the inspiration for the fact that Mirren often just suddenly appears in the frame.

* EveryoneIsASuspect: To the audience, anyway. There are murder weapons (bottle of poison, etc.) all over the house. Quite often, the camera cheekily lingers on them when they're in shot.

* TheCasanova: Sir William [[spoiler:slept with female workers of his factory, often getting them pregnant and then forcing them to either give up their baby to keep their job or to let them keep the baby and then fire the woman. Although its debatable how consensual some of those dalliances were]].

* AllForNothing: A subplot concerns Mary being instructed to clean a soiled shirt that Lady Constance wants to wear the following day. Mary goes to a ''huge'' amount of trouble to get it done in time, and is attacked by a fellow member of staff along the way, only for Constance to decide not to wear the shirt after all. What makes this more poignant and futile is that Constance didn't do any it out of meanness; in fact she's actually surprisingly friendly with her in other scenes. She just has no idea the lengths of effort it would take Mary to clean her shirt.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gosfordpark1_6593.jpg]]

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Have you read the article above?

** It's actually pointed out by the character's it was fortunate that there was at least one person actively mourning Sir William, Louisa Stockbridge (who was in love with him and possibly having an affair), and thus helping deflect some of the suspicion for the rest of the group.

* TheAlcoholic: [[spoiler: Jennings.]]

* StealthInsult: Constance tells Mabel how clever she is for only bringing a single evening dress to the excursion. She's making fun of the fact that Mabel lacks the money to afford nice clothes. Which is an [[{{Hypocrite}} pure hypocrisy]] since Constance is living off of Sir William's charity and is desperate to keep her allowance.

* HistoricalInJoke: A subtle one with Elsie. [[spoiler:The film ends with Morris Weissman apparently inviting her to go back to Hollywood with him to appear in ''Charlie Chan in London''. In the real ''Charlie Chan in London'', there's a maid played by British actress '''Elsa''' Buchanan, whose birth name really was Elsie.]][[note]]Elsa Buchanan herself lived to actually watch ''Gosford Park''.[[/note]]

* HistoricalInJoke: A subtle one with Elsie. [[spoiler:The film ends with Morris Weissman apparently inviting her to go back to Hollywood with him to appear in ''Charlie Chan in London''. In the real ''Charlie Chan in London'', there's a maid played by British actress '''Elsa''' Buchanan, whose birth name really was Elsie.]]

* StealthInsult: Constance tells Mabel how clever she is for only bringing a single evening dress to the excursion. She's making fun of the fact that Mabel lacks the money to afford nice clothes.

* ReleasedToElsewhere: William McCordle fathered ''many'' illegitimate children in his lifetime, especially on the girls who worked in his factories during World War I. He persuaded them to give up their babies (and keep their jobs) by promising that he would have them adopted by affluent families. In reality, he dumped them at a second-rate orphanage. Subverted in that many of the girls saw through the lie, but clung to the illusion rather than lose their jobs, especially since McCordle showed he would not hesitate to fire a girl who refused to give up her child. [[spoiler:This eventually brings about his own death, when one of these children grows up, learns about his origins, and comes back for revenge.]]

* AmbiguouslyBi: Henry Denton, who sleeps with [[RichBitch Lady Sylvia]], tries to seduce [[TheIngenue Mary]] and [[spoiler: it's implied he has a relationship with Mr. Weissman.]]

* AmbiguouslyBi: Henry Denton, who sleeps with [[RichBitch Lady Sylvia]], tries to seduce [[TheIngenue Mary]] and [[spoiler: it's implied he has a relationship with Mr. Weissman]]

* DidYouThinkICantFeel

* ExactEavesdropping

** The plot of the film and the setting was also a major ShoutOut to ''Film/TheRulesOfTheGame'' by Creator/JeanRenoir.

* LostHimInACardGame: Constance mentions at one point that Sylvia and her sisters played cards to determine who would marry William.

** [[spoiler:Once we already know Parks only stabbed but did not poison his father, Constable Dexter finds some poison in Jennings' room and reveals that he is the only one in the house with a criminal record. That's because he was a deserter, during UsefulNotes/WorldWarI. But he's only TheAlcoholic, and among the few who wouldn't have any reason to kill Sir William.]] Lampshaded by Dexter, and Mr. Weissman's talk about valet or butler committing the crime:

* ShhhoesOfStealth: the murderer is seen putting on slippers before sneaking up on Sir William.