Event Details
A weekend party at an English mansion in the 1930s leads to murder in this seriocomic whodunit, with Robert Altman directing an all-star cast. The Oscar-winning screenplay came via Julian Fellowes, who later explored the same milieu for Downton Abbey. The remarkable transatlantic cast includes Alan Bates, Bob Balaban (who also produced and came up with the story idea with Altman), Clive Owen, Kristin Scott Thomas, Emily Watson, and Helen Mirren and Maggie Smith, who were both nominated for their performances. The film’s seven nominations include Best Picture, Directing, and Art Direction, with production designer Stephen Altman and set decorator Anna Pinnock mixing authentic English mansions and soundstage sets to evoke the glamour and class divisions of the era.
Academy Museum film programming generously funded by the Richard Roth Foundation.
2001 | 137 min. | USA/Germany/Italy/UK | Color | Scope | English | Rated R | 35mm
DIRECTED BY: Robert Altman
WRITTEN BY: Julian Fellowes
PRODUCED BY: Robert Altman, Bob Balaban, David Levy
WITH: Eileen Atkins, Bob Balaban, Charles Dance, Stephen Fry
Print courtesy of the Academy Film Archive.