Gosford
Park
Film Club
Riverbank Arts Centre Newbridge
Wednesday 7th May
8.00pm (€4 plus membership)
Booking 045 448333
boxoffice@riverbank.ie
It
is November 1932. Gosford Park is the magnificent country
estate to which Sir William McCordle and his wife, Lady Sylvia,
gather relations and friends for a weekend shooting party. They
have invited an eclectic group including a countess, a World War
I hero, the British matinee idol Ivor Novello and an American film
producer who makes Charlie Chan movies.
As the guests assemble in the gilded drawing rooms above, their
personal maids and valets swell the ranks of the house servants
in the teeming kitchens and corridors below-stairs. But all is not
as it seems: neither amongst the bejeweled guests lunching and dining
at their enormous leisure, nor in the attic bedrooms and stark work
stations where the servants labour for the comfort of their employers.
Early in Gosford Park, we meet the haughty, unlikable Constance
(Maggie Smith), who is the Countess of Trentham, and her inexperienced,
likable maid Mary Maceachran (Kelly Macdonald). It is largely through
these two characters that we come to understand much about the fascinating
world inhabited by English aristocrats and their servants between
the two world wars. As the servants work hard to pamper the McCordles
and their guests, we get an insider's view of this peculiar social
milieu.
In this luxurious setting, we're made witness to a series of events
which bridge generations, class, sex, tragic personal history -
and culminate in a murder... (or is it two murders?). .
“Overflows with terrific performances by a sensational
ensemble cast.” (New York Post)
“It’s the party of the year…” (Rolling
Stone Magazine)
For further information,
please contact Catríona or Gráinne on (045) 448314/5
or by e-mail at artscentre@riverbank.ie