Gosford Park

Robert Altman is one of my favourite directors - M*A*S*H is a gloriously anarchic, sour and funny film, Nashville is unjustly neglected, and The Player contains a tracking shot that rivals Welles for ingenuity. To that list we must, of course, add Gosford Park - a country house whodunnit that manages to be funny, moving and astringent as it manoeuvres its vast cast (a veritable who's who of British talent, with a sprinkling of Americans) into and out of the focus of its brilliantly utilised wide-screen.

The script is Julian Fellowes' finest hour - never mind his far less challenging but similarly located Downton. But it is Altman's roving camera that steals the show, sometimes focusing on the person who is talking but sometimes calling our attention to a subsidiary conversation. You have to pay attention but this is never a chore in this clever and beautiful piece of cinema. 82/100.