YMMV / Gosford Park

• Alternate Character Interpretation:
  • Denton's indiscretion with Mary. Was it really an attempted rape or just an experiment to see how a servant girl would react to such a thing?
  • Likewise the way Denton is treated after they discover he's an actor could be just them annoyed at his deception - or a way of getting back at him for trying to force himself on Mary. Or as Elsie suggests, they may be afraid that he will repeat their gossip about their and their employers' private lives to the Upstairs.
  • Constance calling Mary by her first name. Is it as she said, being unable to pronounce her last name? Or is it her way of showing affection for the girl? She's considerably nicer to Mary than she is to a lot of the other aristocrats. Also, while the rest of the upstairs crowd behave like the servants don't exist, Constance is fully aware the servants are always listening, instructing Mary to keep her aware of the gossip going on downstairs and not to repeat her own secrets to them.
  • Since it's Mr. Blond who is vocally against Standish's match with Isobel the case could be made that he had some genuine affection for, even if it was only that she was his preference over other girls with a good inheritance. He also seems upset when leaving, but whether that's because he didn't get the girl or made a trip for nothing is up to the individual viewer to decide.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Elsie is one of the most memorable characters due to being something of a Morality Pet for Sir William, actually calling out the lady of the house despite her position and getting a lot of good lines. She's something of this in-universe too since the filmmakers decide to take her with them to Los Angeles.
• Fridge Brilliance: Constance and her spiel about bought marmalade. As she's on an allowance, she's likely not living as luxuriously as some of the others. And rather she can't afford to have servants make marmalade for her from scratch in the kitchen. So she was clearly hoping to enjoy some extra comforts that she couldn't normally afford for her stay.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Dame Maggie Smith's bluntness is already hilarious but it gets cranked up to eleven in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.
  • Mary instantly guesses that Denton isn't really Scottish by his unconvincing accent. Fast forward to the filming of No Country for Old Men where Kelly Macdonald pulled off the Texan accent so convincingly that half the cast thought she was American.
  • Here Michael Gambon and Tom Hollander play brothers-in-law. Previously in Wives and Daughters (and later in The Lost Prince) they played father and son.
  • Eileen Atkins, Michael Gambon, Claudie Blakley and Adrian Scarborough all went on to appear in Cranford. In that series, Blakley plays a servant and Atkins plays her employer.
• Idiot Ball: Mary goes to confront the person she believes is the killer, by herself, at night, without telling anyone where she's going. It's averted considering she quickly deduces someone else must have stabbed Mc Cordle and Robert had no intention of hurting her either way but there are a few seconds in which he closes in on her and it's unclear what his intentions are (turns out, he's lining himself up to kiss her).
• Jerkass Woobie: The final few minutes transform Mrs. Wilson into one.
• Love to Hate: Lady Constance is such a Deadpan Snarker that she's hilarious. Half the best lines in the film come from her.
• One-Scene Wonder: Inspector Thompson. He's played by Stephen Fry and he's so hilariously incompetent that you forget he only has about ten minutes of screen time.
• Stoic Woobie: There are a few characters who have unpleasant situations but don't let it show much.
  • Mrs. Croft is estranged from her sister, was among those sexually exploited by her employer and lost her old job for refusing to give up her son for adoption and had him die anyway.
  • Isobel gets demeaned by her mother a lot, and is implied to have been seduced for blackmail purposes.
  • Robert, given his description of his orphanage upbringing.
• Suspiciously Similar Song: The song that plays in the background of the scene where Inspector Thompson talks to the servants was originally supposed to be a recording of Ivor Novello's "The Thought Never Entered My Head", but they couldn't clear the rights for it. In its place, composer Patrick Doyle, his daughter Abigail and Robert Altman wrote a song called "The Way It's Meant to Be".
• Tear Jerker:
  • When the normally unflappable Mrs. Wilson completely breaks down at the end because she realizes even though she's protected her son Robert from being arrested for murder, she's lost him forever and will never see him again.
  • Even more touching: it's her bitter enemy/sister Mrs. Croft comforting her by reminding her that at least he's alive. Realizing that Mrs. Wilson gave up her child because she thought it was best for him, not because she was taking the easy way out for herself, causes Mrs. Croft to forgive her sister after all this time.
• The Woobie: Poor Mabel - a working class girl who was only married for her money. When her new husband discovered the money was all gone (because he squandered it), he was furious. He treats her horribly and she's looked down on by the other high society snobs.

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