Movie Review: The Party

The Party *** / *****

Directed by: Sally Potter.

Written by: Sally Potter.

Starring: Timothy Spall (Bill), Kristin Scott Thomas (Janet), Patricia Clarkson (April), Bruno Ganz (Gottfried), Cherry Jones (Martha), Emily Mortimer (Jinny), Cillian Murphy (Tom). 

 

Director Sally Potter has made some wildly ambitious films in her career – the centuries spanning Orlando with Tilda Swinton as a young nobleman who stays young for centuries for example, or the romance Yes, a modern day film with dialogue in iambic pentameter for example. On that level, The Party feels like Potter taking it easy – tossing off a fun, yet inconsequential bauble of a film, that runs barely 70 minutes, set in one location, and basically lets its talented cast just have fun. That’s disappointing because of what we know Potter is capable of – yet the film remains fun and engaging throughout, so you get over that disappointment. Yes, Potter can do more – but in terms of its limited ambition, The Party works just fine.

 

In the film, Janet (Kristen Scott Thomas) has just been elected to serve as the shadow Minister of Health in Britain – and is holding a party for her best friends to celebrate. We know something is off about her husband, Bill (Timothy Spall) from the beginning – because he just sits in a chair, drinking, playing music and staring off into space. But Janet is too busy to notice – not only has her career gone the way she wants, but she’s also texting with someone she is obviously having an affair with. Gradually though, the guests start arriving. Her best friend April (Patricia Clarkson), who doesn’t believe in politics and is an incurable cynic – but a supportive one – arrives with her boyfriend Gottfried (Bruno Ganz), whose every line is basically new age mumbo gumbo. Then there is Martha (Cherry Jones), an old friend of Bill’s and a fellow professor, and her younger wife Jinny (Emily Mortimer) – who just learned her IVF procedure was successful, and she’ll be having triplets. Finally there is Tom (Cillian Murphy), who is supposed to be with his wife Marianne – an underling of Janet’s, and a former student of Bill’s – but she has been delayed. He shows up in an expensive suit, with a lot of cocaine and a gun – he’s obviously made about something, but it takes a while to figure out what.

 

From there, everything that can go wrong does go wrong, and secrets and lies come spilling out one after another. The film is basically a one act play with a comic tone, even as heavy as some of the things the film deals with are, the whole thing is pitched as a farce. The film is shot in black and white – I am a sucker for black and white in general, and it works here. The whole cast throws themselves into their roles with gusto, and basically just goes for it. The performances are wildly different – Murphy is going over the top, Jones is going more understated, Ganz’s calmness is disturbing, Clarkson’s every line is designed to get a laugh, and Thomas is harried. Spall is good as a man who is essentially resigned to his fate. Mortimer probably has the most underwritten role, but she’s good enough to make her interesting anyway.

 

They all work together well, and the film maintains a fun tone from beginning to end and floats along effortlessly. You can certainly argue that with this much talent on display, the result should be better that just a fun, tossed off bauble. But as far as fun, tossed off baubles go, you can do a lot worse than The Party.