August 18, 2021

I did a bunch of laundry yesterday. My friend visited for the weekend, and once she left I had beach towels, regular towels, sheets, clothes, etc. to get washed. I mention it because we have a coin-operated washer and dryer in our apartment complex. (It's not really big enough to be called a "complex" though. It's more of an apartment simple.) A co-worker of mine gave me this key he bought off the internet. It works on speed queen washer/dryers, and shortly after he bought it, his building switched brands. The key doesn't work on our washer, but it does on the dryer. Meaning we get free dryer time now. It only saves a $1.25, but each time I use that key I feel like a king. A rebel. A smart person who is saving so much money. It makes me feel much better than a regular free washer/dryer ever could. 

More stuff -- my husband and I went to the channel islands with my friend while she was in town. On the boat ride over we saw a bunch of dolphins. They swam with and under the prow of the boat. It was amazing. The day was also really still, the water clear and unobstructed. (I said all that to avoid saying the water was "like glass.") I've been able to sleep better the past couple of nights because I think of the dolphins swimming and jumping while I'm falling asleep. 

Mlog Time! 

GOSFORD PARK

2001

Directed by: Robert Altman

Written by: Julian Fellowes

Watched: 8/17/21

Upstairs/Downstairs murder mystery. This movie felt a lot like Downton Abbey because the writer did Downton Abbey (which was initially conceived as a spinoff). Maggie Smith is in it! In the 1930s, Sir William – a man rich from owning a factory and married to an aristocrat – throws a shooting party. Nobody likes Sir William very much. All the upper class people around him need him for his money but don’t approve of his affairs (both business and personal). Mary Maceachran, Maggie Smith’s maid, is new and is shown around by Elsie, the maid of the house, and the only person who actually likes Sir William. (He dusts crumbs off her shirt in one scene. It’s cute.) There’s also an actor in the family who’s brought along an American director (who’s constantly on the phone with California.) Mary befriends Robert, a valet of one of the guests. 

There’s lots of conflicts flying around. A man who married his low-born wife for money, which has now run out. She’s the only one who’s actually impressed by the famous actor. A blackmail plot against Sir William’s daughter for an affair and an abortion. Everyone’s begging for money. Upstairs people are sleeping with downstairs people in the middle of the night. Eventually, Sir William is murdered. First he’s poisoned and then, later, is stabbed. It turns out that Robert stabbed him. Robert is Sir William’s illegitimate son from back when Sir William would rape the women working in his factory. Robert’s mother gave him up for adoption and soon afterwards (he believes) died. But Miss Wilson, the housekeeper, realizes that Robert is actually her son, and that he intends on killing Sir William. To protect her son, Mrs. Morris is the one who poisons Sir William first. The movie ends without Robert knowing who his mother is. 

Man! This was a great screenplay. The relevant information comes out so naturally that I don’t remember which scenes told me what. I just feel like I came to know this and that, like if you’re at a party or a workplace and rumors go around. There were also spots in which I was confused about who everyone was, but that didn’t actually bother me so much. It created a feeling of the whole house being thick with drama and desperation, which I liked. The murder came halfway (or later) in the movie. Knowing someone (probably Sir William because lots of people wanted him dead) was going to get murdered help push the story along. But even the investigation didn’t really drive the movie – we see little snippets of the interviews but not more. The enjoyment was mostly in the personal dramas of the characters, their desperations, their aspersions, their hopes. Then someone died and we eventually found out how it happened and that was well enough. 

Rating: ★★★★