Line #15 Film/GosfordPark


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gosfordpark_4.png]]
2
3	->''"Tea at four\
4	\
5	Dinner at eight\
6	\
7	Murder at midnight."''\
8	\
9
10	2001 film directed by Creator/RobertAltman, set in a large country house in 1930s Britain. The film features an all-star ensemble cast (see [[Characters/GosfordPark Characters]]).
11
12	Sir William [=McCordle=], a rich guy, invites some more of his rich friends to a shooting party at Gosford Park. They also bring all their servants.
13
14	A few days later, Sir William gets murdered.
15
16	More than just a basic murder mystery story, ''Gosford Park'' focuses more on the servants and the division between both ends of the British class system than the rich murdered guy and his rich "friends". The whodunnit plot is used as a device to examine the characters and their relationships with one another, and as a reason for the film to come to an end.
17
18	Many of the scenes feature the ensemble improvising dialogue in character, and since the camera is seldom still, the audience drifts from conversation to conversation like an eavesdropper. There are also a lot of sub-plots, which would take forever to cover here.
19
20	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 Dame Creator/MaggieSmith.
21	----
22	!!The film provides examples of:
23
24	* AllForNothing:
25	** 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.
26	** A far more serious example occurs with [[spoiler:Mrs. Croft. She lost her job after deciding to keep her child and a year later he died of scarlet fever.]]
27	* AmbiguouslyBi: Henry Denton, who sleeps with [[RichBitch Lady Sylvia]], tries to seduce [[TheIngenue Mary]], and [[spoiler: is implied to have a relationship with Mr. Weissman.]]
28	* AmbiguouslyGay: [[spoiler: It's implied that Mr. Weissman has a relationship with Henry Denton.]]
29	* AristocratsAreEvil: Most of the aristocrats come off as selfish and arrogant.
30	* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Constance makes a snide comment about how Ivor Novello's career is in the crapper now that ''Film/TheLodger'' bombed. The problem is that 1) this film is set a full five years after ''The Lodger'' was released, and 2) it was actually a smash hit that made the reputation of its director, Creator/AlfredHitchcock.
31	* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler: Sir William. Very few people in the house, above or below stairs, lack some reason to kill him.]]
32	-->'''Cooking girl:''' [[spoiler: Trust Sir William to [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill be murdered twice]] !]]
33	* AttemptedRape: It's difficult to say how far it would have gone, but at the very ''least'' Mary is molested by Henry after she gets lost in the corridors.
34	* AuthorAppeal: The presence of Ivor Novello as a character and the use of his songs in the film came about because Robert Altman was a fan of Novello's music.
35	* TheBeautifulElite: PlayedWith. Creator/JulianFellowes' script makes clear that the British aristocracy is in its twilight; to the older generation of servants, such as Lady Sylvia's maid Lewis and Sir William's valet Probert, they are literally gods among men, but the younger generation, including Elsie, have [[NoHeroToHisValet no stars in their eyes]]. Lampshaded by Elsie while she and Mary are sharing a tidbit of gossip picked up from Constance:
36	-->''Why do we live our lives through them? Look at poor old Lewis. If her own mother was having a heart attack, she’d think it was less important than one of Lady Sylvia’s farts.''
37	* BeneathSuspicion: ''All'' the [[AnAesop working class]] characters are considered this by the detective since the murder victim was upper-class and the detective is only interested in anyone who had "a real connection" with the victim. Had he bothered to question any of the servants, he might have learned that [[spoiler:the victim had slept with some of them.]] Not only that, [[spoiler:he delivers that particular line to the person who actually committed the murder]].
38	* BigDamnKiss: [[spoiler: Parks to Mary]] and Colonel Meredith to his wife.
39	* BitchAlert: Lady Sylvia and the Countess of Trentham.
40	* {{Blackmail}}: Mr Nesbitt blackmails Isobel by [[spoiler:threatening to tell her parents that he made her pregnant, and that she subsequently had an abortion.]]
41	* TheButlerDidIt: Invoked and Averted. [[spoiler:A valet ''did'' stab Sir William, but his mother figured it out and poisoned Sir William ahead of time. There's no law against stabbing a corpse]]. Mr. Weissman is heard discussing this trope over the phone. He argues that a valet is a better suspect, because there's only one butler - but a valet would have more access.
42	* ButtMonkey:
43	** Mabel Nesbitt, who comes from a working class background and now no longer has any money. Constance makes a point to make fun of the fact that she brought only a single off-the-rack evening dress.
44	** And Denton to the servants after they find out what he really is.
45	* 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 it's debatable how consensual some of those dalliances were]].
46	* TheCharmer: Henry Denton, successfully with Lady Sylvia. Unsuccessfully with Elsie and Mary.
47	* ChekhovsGun: There's plenty of talk about a knife going missing from the drawer, and there's likewise several lingering shots of poison.
48	* ClosedCircle: After the murder, none of the guests are allowed to leave.
49	* TheCobblersChildrenHaveNoShoes: William is a master gunsmith, and it's implied that he made his fortune making munitions during the War, but as Elsie says, if he actually shoots at anything, he ''"can't hit the side of a barn."''
50	* 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, George (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.
51	* CooldownHug: [[spoiler:From Mrs. Croft to Mrs. Wilson, finally reconciling after decades of sisterly enmity, having witnessed the lengths Mrs. Wilson had to go through to prevent her removed son from becoming a murderer.]]
52	* CorruptCorporateExecutive: [[spoiler:Sir William, who slept with multiple workers in his factories.]]
53	* 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]].
54	* 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\|1940}}''. Mrs Danvers served as the inspiration for the fact that Mirren often just suddenly appears in the frame.
55	* CulturalStereotypes: The wealthy. Specifically, the ''titled'' wealthy; all but a handful of the Upstairs characters are absolutely awful people and dicks of the highest order (and those Upstairs characters who are more likeable tend to also be of 'lower' station). That said, the Downstairs characters aren't exactly pure as driven snow, but we're clearly encouraged to sympathise with them a bit more.
56	* DangerousDeserter: Jennings, who lives with shame because of it.
57	* DeadpanSnarker: Lady Constance. Also Mrs Wilson.
58	* {{Deconstruction}}: Of Creator/AgathaChristie-style murder mysteries which take place in grand, aristocratic circles and focus on very wealthy and important people. The plot prefers instead to focus on the relationships between these people and their servants and play with several of the common character types who appear in these stories, with the actual murder being more of a background event. [[spoiler: Also, the detective is a blundering incompetent who ignores or destroys important evidence; it's suggested that because of this, Sir William's murderer will never be identified.]]
59	* DidYouThinkICantFeel: [[spoiler:Mrs. Wilson plainly and calmly admits to Mary the fact that she murdered Sir William to prevent Parks from killing the old sod. She tells Mary that it was just a matter of ''when'' it would happen. Later, alone in her room, Mrs. Wilson crumbles in tears for what she had to do to prevent the boy she gave away from becoming a murderer, and is about to start wailing when Mrs. Croft comes to console her.]]
60	* DirtyOldMan: Sir William, who's [[spoiler:having an affair with the much younger Elsie.]]
61	* TheDitz: Anyone who knows how the police are supposed to inspect crimes should know that Inspector Thompson clearly does not know how to do his job. His assistant on the other hand...
62	* TheDogBitesBack: After Freddie extracts a blackmail cheque from Isobel, Mabel confronts him in the middle of the drawing room and whispers for him to hand it over or else she'll scream bloody murder in front of ''everyone''. He spitefully tears up the cheque and hands her the pieces, but she couldn't care less about the money; what she cares about is that she's stood up to her abusive husband, and watched him fold like a cheap tent.
63	* DysfunctionalFamily: The [=McCordles=] are one big happy family. Well, if you ignore [[spoiler: Sir William's affairs]], [[spoiler: Lady Sylvia's affairs]] and, for that matter, the likelihood that [[spoiler: their daughter is having an affair.]] Not to mention Lady Sylvia's contempt for her child.
64	* EmpathicEnvironment: {{Inverted}}. It's raining before the murder and beautifully sunny afterwards.
65	* EstablishingCharacterMoment: In the opening scene; unable to open a thermos herself, Constance has her driver pull over, and her maid, Mary, exit the front passenger seat (in pouring rain) and turn to the back compartment to open it for her.
66	* 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.
67	* ExactEavesdropping: Plentiful, as most of the characters are GossipyHens.
68	* {{Fainting}}: Lady Lavinia faints when she catches sight of the dead body.
69	* FakeBrit: InUniverse as Henry Denton isn't actually Scottish, but American.
70	* FishOutOfWater: Poor Mabel...no longer a commoner, because she married an aristocrat. But said aristocrat squandered all of Mabel's money. Now she's poor again, accepted by no one, certainly not the fancy people at Sir William's house.
71	* {{Foreshadowing}}: When talking about his murder mystery, Weissman refuses to reveal the murderer. [[spoiler:And the others never find out who killed Sir William]]. Likewise Lady Trentham says "None of us will see it" (referring to the movie). [[spoiler:The murderers were both people they didn't expect]].
72	** There are still a lot of ChekhovsGun, and a few visual hints that [[spoiler: Parks]] did it :
73	*** [[spoiler:He puts out a cigarette in the same bucket that the murderer took his knife from. Sure, other people might use it, but he's the only one seen doing so.]]
74	*** [[spoiler:When the police leaves, the camera lingers on him smiling. Sure, they are all making fun of Thompson, but especially him.]]
75	*** [[spoiler:Before the murder occurs, several people move away from the main living room and don't come back until the murder is done. There is an explanation for all of them, except him (Nesbitt delivering a note to Isabel, Meredith going for marmalade, George going for a cigarette and later to refill a milk carafe). He just pretends he was getting a hot-water bag, which doesn't take that long if it was prepared.]]
76	** Before the murder, George is asked about Sir William's whereabouts and he says "He's still in the library. He won't be out again tonight." Or any other night, as it turns out.
77	* FreezeFrameBonus: When Henry is trying to rape Mary, a "Fox Film" label can be seen on his pants. This is a quick hint that Henry is actually an actor.
78	* GenteelInterbellumSetting: A title card places the events of the film in 1932; in the notes to his screenplay, Creator/JulianFellowes said this was intentional: although the interwar period lasted until September 1939, the years from 1933 (when the Reichstag was burned) and 1939 had a distinct [[ScrewTheWarWerePartying atmosphere of denial]] about them, and 1932 was the last year of "innocence" for Great Britain.
79	* GentlemanSnarker
80	* GoldDigger: Freddie Nesbitt to his wife, Mabel; Rupert Standish is trying it with Isobel. Also, with the exception of the Stockbridges and Weismann's group, this is the real reason the guests are there: they all want money from Sir William, either though business deals, charity or blackmail.
81	* TheGrandHunt: There's a hunt planned as part of the country house festivities. The women join an outdoor lunch after the shooting, and the American film producer (who is also a vegetarian) is clearly the odd man out.
82	* HappilyMarried: The Merediths. Notable considering they are the ''only'' happily married couple in the film.
83	* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Ivor Novello was an accomplished and much-loved movie star and songwriter in his time. The songs the character performs during the film are some of his most famous, although the real Novello reportedly considered his own voice very poor. As the film implies, he was gay.
84	* 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 lived to actually see ''Gosford Park'' for herself.[[/note]]
85	* HuntingAccident: One of the guests grazes Sir William during TheGrandHunt.
86	* HypercompetentSidekick: Constable Dexter, deputy to Inspector Thompson the bumbling idiot. Dexter has to remind his boss not to touch anything to avoid leaving fingerprints. Dexter also notices the shattered cup and the mud on the floor, which Thompson fails to understand. And while Thompson cannot even conceive of the idea that someone from "downstairs" might have interacted with Sir William, Dexter is correct in thinking the killer might be among the servants. It's implied that if Dexter had been able to investigate the crime himself, he might have found the guilty party.
87	* HypocriticalHumor:
88	-->'''Lavinia''': Don't be such a snob, Aunt Constance.\
89	'''Constance''': Me? I haven't a snobbish bone in my entire body.
90	* IceQueen: Lady Sylvia. You can practically ''feel'' the cold aura around her - yet despite this, she keeps up an impenetrable façade of charm and manners.
91	** The stone cold houskeeper Mrs Wilson is this for the downstairs, barely showing an inch of emotion [[spoiler: even to her own son]]. In a way she is almost acting as a mirror of Lady Sylvia.
92	* IdleRich: Most of the "upstairs" cast.
93	* ImpoverishedPatrician: Oh so many. In both his foreword to the screenplay, and the DVD commentary, Creator/JulianFellowes said, ''"the British aristocracy will tell you that they never talk about money, when in truth they think about nothing else."''
94	** Elsie informs Mary that Sylvia, Louisa and Lavinia's father is the Earl of Carton - ''"which sounds good except he didn't have a pot to piss in."''
95	* InnocentlyInsensitive: Ironically considering she has no problem being ''deliberately'' insensitive to anyone else. But Lady Trentham has Mary clean a blouse for the hunting party the next day - only to decide at the last minute that she'll wear a different one. The fact that Mary had to go down into the kitchen in the middle of the night to wash it never crossed her mind.
96	* InSeriesNickname: The valets and maids who arrive at the mansion with the guests are referred to by their masters' titles. For example Parks, as Lord Stockbridge's valet is referred to as "Stockbridge", Mary, as Lady Trentham's maid, is called "Miss Trentham", and so on.
97	* {{Jerkass}}: Just about everyone in the Upstairs, with some exceptions.
98	* JurisdictionFriction: Mrs. Wilson, as head housekeeper, runs the "upstairs" servants' activities, while Mrs. Croft, as head cook, runs the basement kitchen; this occasionally causes friction over servants meant to run between the two "realms"; when Mrs. Wilson sees several of the servants listening to Novello's singing and tells them to get back to work, Mrs. Croft speaks up, saying Dorothy, at least, is under her authority at the moment.
99	* KickTheDog: Literally, by Lady Sylvia.
100	* LonelyRichKid: Isabel
101	* LostHimInACardGame: Constance mentions at one point that Sylvia and her sisters cut cards (that is, split the deck to see who got the higher number) to determine who would marry William.
102	* LotsaPeopleTryToDunIt: The murder victim was stabbed while sitting in a dark room alone. [[spoiler: He had already been killed by poison.]]
103	* MamaBear: [[spoiler:Mrs. Wilson to Mr. Parks, having to kill Sir William in order to prevent Parks from doing the deed. She could reconcile with the fact that she had to give Parks away decades ago, but she could not abide to him becoming a murderer, so she poisoned the old man before Parks reached him.]]
104	* TheMole: Denton acts as one of the servants when [[spoiler:he is really an American actor who spies on the Downstairs for research for Weissman. He tells Jennings, and the word spreads in the Downstairs, causing all the servants to hate him]].
105	* MutualEnvy: the Earl of Carlton's two eldest daughters, Sylvia and Louisa, "cut cards" (equivalent to flipping a coin) to see which of them would get to marry the wealthy Sir William [=McCordle=]. Sylvia won, and Louisa eventually married Lord Raymond Stockbridge, who was also rich, if not as rich as William. By the time of the film, both of them are convinced they'd have been happier with the other's husband:
106	** Sylvia despises William for his vulgar manners, his lack of breeding, and the fact that his money comes from industry, while coveting a man with Raymond's aristocratic upbringing and his status as a genuine war hero.
107	** Louisa, on the other hand, is bored out of her mind with a husband as correct and well-bred (i.e., stiff and unimaginative) as hers, and she and William openly enjoy flirting with each other.
108	** Unfortunately, neither of them envy their younger sister Lavinia, the only one of their father's daughters who's HappilyMarried, to a poor man who the rest of society dismisses as a loser.
109	* MyBelovedSmother: Lady Sylvia to Isobel. It's an especially sad example considering Sylvia is incredibly controlling of her daughter (even picking out her clothes for her and ridiculing them once she's wearing them), but without any of the warmth that this trope sometimes implies.
110	* MysteriousPast: Parks, Mrs Wilson and, to a lesser extent, Mrs Croft. It's all revealed near the end.
111	* TheNameIsBondJamesBond: Mr. Parks identifies himself as "Parks. Robert Parks" at the beginning of the film.
112	* NeverTrustATrailer: The trailers and posters for the film made it seem like a somewhat light-hearted Agatha Christie-style murder mystery, when in fact the murder doesn't happen until ''very'' late in the film, is resolved just as quickly, and could hardly be called the focus of the film anyway.
113	* NiceToTheWaiter: A small example. Lady Trentham is considerably nicer to her servant Mary than she is to the rest of the cast. She often behaves more like a bossy mother or aunt towards her. If Lady Trentham gets anything resembling a PetTheDog moment, it usually involves Mary.
114	* NobilityMarriesMoney:
115	** Sir William [=McCordle=] was a wealthy industrialist who married Lady Sylvia, the daughter of an Earl whose family was impoverished. Sir William pays an allowance to his wife's aunt, Constance, Countess of Trentham; he expresses his intention to stop paying this money before he is murdered.
116	** The Honourable Freddie Nesbitt married Mabel, who was the daughter of a glove manufacturer. Their marriage isn't happy.
117	* NoEnding: Only the murder plot and a few others are concluded. All of the other plots are left up in the air, including [[spoiler: Isobel's heavily-implied abortion]] and [[spoiler: the altered relationship between Mabel and Freddie.]] The resolved plots include [[spoiler:Isobel standing up to her blackmailer and sending him packing, Colonel Meredith fixing up his relationship with his wife, and Elsie (it's heavily implied) manages to go into show business.]]
118	* NoHeroToHisValet: Cleverly invoked and subverted, since Sir William's valet, Probert, just adores him.
119	* NotNowKiddo:
120	-->'''Constable Dexter:''' Sir, someone's traipsed a load of mud in down here.
121	-->'''Inspector Thompson:''' Not now, Dexter, please.
122	* NouveauRiche: Mabel's family were working class, but her father made money in business. Her husband squandered it all, so she's not only out of place among the aristocrats, but she doesn't even have the money to pretend that she's on their level.
123	* ObfuscatingStupidity: [[CluelessDetective Inspector Thompson]] is interrogating the "upstairs" population one by one, and excitedly thinks he's found a motive for the murder when he hears that the victim threatened to cut off Lady Trentham's allowance. When questioning Lady Trentham, she pretends ignorance, and he calls in Mary to corroborate it. Mary very politely says she has no idea what the Inspector is talking about, and besides, the "upstairs" people would never discuss such sensitive matters in her hearing (which is two BlatantLies for the price of one). Inspector Thomas is stymied, and Constance later tells Mary that she'll be getting a ''big'' raise once they get home - not only is she profoundly grateful, but she has quickly come to appreciate that Mary is both sharp and loyal, a rare combination in any servant.
124	* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: A variation. The visiting downstairs staff are referred to by their master and mistresses's names.
125	* OohMeAccentsSlipping: InUniverse. Parks notices that there's something off about Denton's accent, and Mary, who's actually Scottish, realizes that Denton isn't. Also, Denton briefly forgets and talks with his natural American accent to Lady Sylvia.
126	* OutlivingOnesOffspring: [[spoiler:Mrs. Croft's son with Sir William died of scarlet fever.]]
127	* ParentalAbandonment: [[spoiler: Mrs. Wilson, but under duress.]]
128	* [[spoiler:{{Patricide}}]]: [[spoiler:One of]] the motives for the murder.
129	* PetTheDog: The Countess of Trentham is revealed to have a softer side in her last line of the film.
130	** Lady Sylvia has ice-water in her veins, but is mindful enough to know that interrupting the servants while they're having their evening meal is an intrusion. She apologizes as she comes in and tells them to continue eating while she consults Mrs Wilson on a guest's dietary needs.
131	* ThePlace
132	* PlayingBothSides: {{Averted}}, as it's made clear that "upstairs" never, ''ever'' meets "downstairs" (at least not publicly).
133	** Henry Denton joins the "upstairs" crowd after [[spoiler:it's revealed that he's an American actor researching a role, not a Scottish valet.]] He complains that all the servants are treating him like a leper, when, unlike the rest of the "snobs" he actually spent time in their company, living like them.
134	--->'''Bertha''': Can't be on two sides at once, sir.\
135	'''Henry''': ''(with genuine sadness)'' More's the pity.
136	** Mabel, the daughter of a working-class family that made good, has much more in common with the "downstairs" crowd than any other member of the "upstairs" crowd, but she is just as trapped "upstairs" with a group of snobs that all despise her.
137	* PoliceAreUseless: Inspector Thompson is. PC Dexter is not, but is outranked.
138	* PrettyInMink: Most of the upstairs women.
139	* TheQuietOne: Robert Parks. In the DVDCommentary the director comments that actor Clive Owen said of his character that he would always say as little as possible, followed by the director's astonishment that it was the first time he had ever heard of an actor demanding ''fewer'' lines.
140	* RedHerring: Several, as usual in Altman's movies :
141	** When the servants arrive, the camera lingers on the safe where the guests' jewellery is kept. But this doesn't figure in the story at all.
142	** Henry Denton raising suspicion as a weird servant, with a weird Scottish accent. Turns out [[spoiler: he's not the murderer...]]
143	--->'''Parks:''' It's [[SelfDeprecation worse than that]]. [[spoiler:[[LeaningOnTheFourthWall He's an actor!]]]]
144	** Mary finding a suspicious cook wandering at night. Turns out she was just having an affair with [[spoiler:Mr. Blond.]]
145	** [[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 conscientious objector during UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, and was sent to prison for it. 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:
146	--->'''Constable Dexter:''' Perhaps TheButlerDidIt.
147	* 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.]]
148	* ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated: Robert says his mother is dead. It turns out that his mother isn't dead, because [[spoiler:she's Mrs. Wilson.]]
149	* TheReveal: A lot of things are revealed in the end.[[spoiler: Mary deduces a lot of the murder, and Parks and Mrs Wilson fill in the rest for her.]]
150	* RewatchBonus:
151	** The scene where Mrs Wilson meets Robert is a lot more understandable when you know that [[spoiler:he's her long lost son. Similarly, Mrs. Croft stops in her tracks when she hears Robert's name.]]
152	** Denton asking Robert lots of questions. On the first watch he just seems to be making friendly conversation. On the rewatch [[spoiler: he's doing research]].
153	* RunningGag:
154	** Inspector Thompson being interrupted every time he tries to introduce himself.
155	** "Take/Move that filthy/vile dog/animal out of here." People from Upstairs and Downstairs really don't like Pip. Except William, Robert and Elsie.
156	* TheScream: ''De Rigeur'' for a murder mystery; when Louisa discovers William in his study. The irony remarked upon later is that Louisa is the only member of the upstairs or downstairs group who's actually sorry he's dead; had anyone else discovered his body, including his own wife, he or she would likely have shrugged, walked outside and casually announced the news.
157	* SecretKeeper: [[spoiler:Stockbridge reveals to Meredith that he knows that Meredith shot at Sir William, and says that he'll lie for him at the inquest by saying his height prevented him from seeing the birds properly.]]
158	* ShoutOut:
159	** Lady Trentham makes fun of ''Film/TheLodger'' at the beginning.
160	** Not only is ''Film/CharlieChan in London'' referenced as the real film that the fictional Morris Weissman is producing, the plot of ''Gosford Park'' has rough similarities to it (murder at a country estate, many suspects, class division between aristocrats and servants).
161	** Stephen Fry's detective character in Tan overcoat and suit was modeled on Creator/JacquesTati's M. Hulot.
162	** The plot of the film and the setting was also a major ShoutOut to ''Film/TheRulesOfTheGame'' by Creator/JeanRenoir, a film that Altman often expressed his admiration for.
163	* SirSwearsALot: Weissman, in his phone calls back to Hollywood.
164	--> '''Constance''': That frightful Inspector won't let anyone leave, so we're treated to another day of Mr Weissman shouting down the telephone.
165	* SmashToBlack: Used for scene transitions. Many times throughout the film, instead of cutting from one scene to the next in the regular way, the film cuts completely to black for a second or two before starting the next scene.
166	* SneakersOfSneaking: The murderer is seen wearing slippers before sneaking up on his victim.
167	* StealthInsult: Constance says of Mabel "[she] is so clever to travel light. Why should one wear a different frock every evening? We're not in a fashion parade." She's making fun of the fact that Mabel lacks the money to afford nice clothes. All of which is [[{{Hypocrite}} pure hypocrisy]] since Constance is living off of Sir William's charity and is desperate to keep her allowance.
168	** Turns into a GrewASpine moment for Mabel, as the insult wasn't quiet or stealthy enough for Mabel not to notice, and she quips back "No, and I wouldn't want to be."
169	** Constance is the queen of this trope--it'd be easier to list the scenes where she ''doesn't'' make use of it, but observing that Ivor has a [[BoringInsult "lovely long repertoire"]] is another rather crafty one.
170	* StiffUpperLip: Upstairs is somewhere between this and CosyCatastrophe. Even after the discovery that Sir William [[spoiler: wasn't murdered by a burglar but instead poisoned by someone else in the house]], no-one seems particularly concerned. It helps that [[AssholeVictim everyone hated him]], of course.
171	** It's actually pointed out by the characters 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.
172	* StraightGay: Novello, Weissman and (probably) Arthur.
173	* SweetAndSourGrapes: [[spoiler: Elsie gets to tell Lady Sylvia off but ends up dismissed as a result. However the Americans offer to give her a lift to London, implying she'll become an actress in Hollywood]].
174	* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: [[spoiler: Sir William]] got poisoned, then stabbed.
175	* TookALevelInBadass: Mabel, who is the ButtMonkey of the entire "upstairs", including her own husband, for much of the film, decides she [[RageBreakingPoint just doesn't care anymore]], shrugs off Constance's snobbish comment about Mabel wearing the same dress two nights in a row, and confronts her husband in the middle of the evening company, saying she'll ''"scream this house down"'' if he doesn't give her the cheque he just blackmailed out of Isobel.
176	* TragicKeepsake: Robert keeps a photograph of his mother on his nightstand as the only thing he has of her.
177	* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: The film's main trailer doesn't exactly hide that [[spoiler:Denton is actually an actor.]]
178	* UnresolvedSexualTension: [[spoiler: Robert and Mary.]]
179	* UnrequitedLove: Dorothy towards Jennings, who is ''very'' reluctant. This leads to her giving Colonel Meredith the following epiphany-inducing and love-affirming revelation.
180	-->'''Dorothy:''' I believe in love. Not just getting it, but giving it. I think that if you're able to love someone, even if they don't know it, even if they can't love you back, then it's worth it.
181	* WhoMurderedTheAsshole: Though the victim as we see him is portrayed relatively sympathetically, seeming to be a fairly nice old duffer with a horrible harpy of a wife (she tears chunks out of him at dinner in front of all their friends), his past is not so clear and when he is murdered it turns out everyone had a motive. Though in fact all the people with real, personal motives are ignored as [[DeliberateValuesDissonance they are only the servants.]]

Context Film / GosfordPark