We watched Gosford Park together as one of our Saturday night movies. Although there was hardly anything familiar, I find that I saw it at the cinema on 6th March 2002. Well, that was twenty three years ago. A Julian Fellows screenplay that was so successful that it paved the way for the TV series Downton Abbey. The most remarkable thing about this film was the starry cast. Eileen Atkins, Alan Bates, Derek Jacobi, Richard E Grant )wonderful), Emily Watson, Jeremy Northam (can he really play the piano), Helen Mirren, Christin Scott Thomas, Clive Owen (memorable) Stephen Fry, Michael Gambon, Kelly Fitzgerald, Charles Dance, Tom Hollander, Ryan Phillipe to mention just a few. Directed by Robert Altman (see post 1st September 2020 - "his final great triumph).
Oh dear! I was thinking about going to see the play at County Hall in London. (See their website). So I may have to wait some time while I forget the plot. Especially all those twists and turns at the end. Here is the black and white American version from 1957 starring Charles Laughton (excellent as the barrister). Directed by Billy Wilder and also starring Tyrone Power and Marlene Dietrich, it gained six Oscar nominations. Agatha Christie does it again.
I made so many notes for this film, I'm not sure where to start. All because of the May 2025 edition of Sight and Sound magazine: In the Mood for Love at 25: The Making of a Modern Classic. We start in Hong Kong in 1962. Here is Mrs Chan played by Maggie Cheung, a masterpiece of acting. She looks wonderful and seems so happy despite her absent husband. Moving into her claustrophobic apartment block is Mr Chow, the equally brilliant Tony Leung. His wife seems to work alternate hours to him. Are their spouses actually having an affair. We never seem to see them. Mrs Chan and Mr Chow are always meeting on the landing or on the stairs. They seem to avoid each other or exchange just a few words.
Then suddenly they are in a cafe having coffee. Then next time they are having steaks. But always they have to leave separately as their neighbours on their floor are always watching and are far too inquisitive. So theirs is a platonic relationship, far from the words of the title. Even when Mr Chow takes on his new apartment, this is just to write, they hardly touch hands. "We wont be like them" says Mrs Chan, referring to their spouses.
So a strange and sad but captivating relationship. Mrs Chan always looks fantastic, those clothes are incredible. Director Wong Kar Wai's cinematography is really something, but I was never quite sure about the strange editing. Some good songs: Dean Martin's Magic is the Moonlight and Quizas, Quaizas, Quizas. Then at the end we go forward to 1963 and then 1966. A very strange conclusion.
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