Maggie Smith received her sixth Oscar nomination for her performance as Lady Constance Trentham in Gosford Park.
Gosford Park is an excellent film about a murder that takes place during a party at a country house in England in 1932, affecting the lives of both the guests and the servants. I already liked the movie when I saw it a few years ago, but it grew on me considerably after a rewatch. I believe this to be a masterpiece of screenwriting: in spite of the murder, it's not quite a plot-driven movie but rather a character-driven movie, and here almost every character gets just enough focus to be interesting and compelling in its own way; at the same time, though, the mystery is exceptionally conceived and the ending is brilliantly hinted at but never remotely obvious. The directing by Robert Altman is also pitch-perfect and he would easily be my pick for Best Director if it wasn't for David Lynch. The cast is very strong: even if I think that some of the characters are actually more memorable for the writing than for the acting, it's still a terrific ensemble with a few standouts.
Maggie Smith plays Constance Trentham, the snobbish aunt of Lady Silvia (Kristin Scott Thomas). The character of Constance is not a particularly challenging one and, actually, it's probably one of the most straightforward of the whole movie: she does not have much complexity and she serves mostly as a comic relief. It's the kind of character Maggie Smith has played very often on screen and this is not a particularly original variation of it: nonetheless, there is no denying that Smith can pull it off like no other and she is always a delightful presence on-screen.
Lady Trentham is one of the very first characters to appear on screen and Maggie Smith establishes her character's bitchy personality perfectly: she perfectly portrays her character's arrogance in a way that is not at all grating or annoying, in fact she manages to make her character's quite endearing despite being technically quite unlikeable. It's a role that relies heavily on facial reactions and line-deliveries and Smith is pretty much brilliant at both ("Could we possibly get on before I freeze to death?", "I haven't a snobbish bone in my body"). In the scenes at the house, Smith also does an excellent job at portraying Constance's demeanor with other people as she speaks with other people but does not exactly socialize - she exhibits a proper behavior yet still keeps herself at distance from others. All of this again works perfectly for her depiction of her character's superior attitude and those scenes nicely contrast to her scenes with Kristin Scott Thomas or Kelly McDonald (who plays her servant Mary): in those scenes Smith is very good as she still portrays her character as snobbish but also reveals a gossipy side of her in a very amusing fashion ("If there's one thing I don't look for in a maid, it's discretion. Except with my own secrets, of course"). Some of her best moments are the ones in which Constance not-so-subtly expresses her disdain for the American film producer Morris Weissman (Bob Balaban) and the actor Ivor Novello (Jeremy Northam): her reactionary shots are absolutely hilarious and she has some brilliantly funny lines ("Please don't encourage him", "Awfully long repertoire"). One of her best scenes is the one in which she calmly humiliates Novello by asking him about his last film which was a huge flop, The Lodger - she is maliciously funny in it. I also love the moment when Constance starts laughing after a butler "accidentally" spills coffee on Henry Denton's (Ryan Phillippe) trousers - it's a hilarious moment thanks to Smith who couldn't be any funnier.
The character of Lady Constance Trentham is, even name-wise, very similar to the character Smith plays in Downton Abbey, Lady Violet Grantham (Downton Abbey was actually supposed to be a spin-off of this movie). Those characters are almost the same on a superficial level - both are rich, sophisticated, scathing old ladies, yet Smith's performance in the miniseries is far superior. Why? Because throughout the seasons Smith had the time to convey a lot of depth in the character of Violet - she portrays a fierce loyalty towards her family and an unexpectedly kind-hearted nature behind her bitchy façade and ends up being the show's most powerful character (possibly after Lady Mary). Due to her limited screen-time and the ensemble nature of the movie itself, Maggie Smith can only do so much with what she has and unfortunately there really is not much substance to her performance in this. It is later on revealed in the movie that Lady Trentham is having some financial troubles and she is worried that Sir William (Michael Gambon) will stop paying for her allowance - Smith conveys this very well as there are certain moments in the movie in which she shows a bit of urgency in few interactions with Gambon, but still that does not make her character much more three-dimensional. She does have a very brief moment of vulnerability towards the end when Lady Trentham reflects with Mary about the possible consequences of the investigation, but still it only amounts to a few seconds and it's not particularly memorable.
Overall, this is a solid performance by Maggie Smith who gives a very enjoyable, scene-stealing performance. While it's not something I would have necessarily nominated (Emily Watson in the same movie was much more memorable in my opinion) and the role is lacking in depth and substance, she still delivers an entertaining turn that adds some needed humor to the whole picture. Nice, fun work.
3.5/5
0 Yorumlar