The Party
Director: Sally Potter
Talent: Kristin Scott Thomas, Timothy Spall, Cillian Murphy
The Party is an old-fashioned ‘one room’ comedy that is like a play in both its execution and style. The room in question belongs to Janet (Kristin Scott Thomas) who has just been promoted to Secretary for Health, albeit for the opposition. Her husband Bill (Timothy Spall) is less than overjoyed at this news and doesn’t exactly try to hide this fact from their ream of party guests that include Tom the ‘banker wanker’ (Cillian Murphy), Gottfried the ‘aromatherapist’ (Bruno Ganz) and April the idealist-come-bestfriend (Patricia Clarkson).
At 71 minutes, The Party is unusually brisk for a feature film. And yet writer/director Sally Potter does well to make it feel not so. There is more than enough drama packed into this short running time, and the whole debacle is tidied up nicely with a theatrical sleight of hand at the end. Stylistically, this film is very pleasing too. The choice to shoot in black and white complements the film’s traditional storytelling, and is helped along by a judicious soundtrack. Timothy Spall’s character Bill largely does the choosing, before he is somewhat incapacitated and the responsibility is passed on to Murphy in comedic fashion.
Despite its brevity, The Party is a slow starter. The first half is a bit flat – with Patricia Clarkson the only stand out – albeit that’s largely down to her character getting the bulk of the choice lines. However, as the drama heats up, so does The Party. Ganz, Murphy and Spall share a particularly memorable scene while one them is sprawled out on the floor and some of the repeated jokes at the beginning of the film start to pay dividends. Overall, The Party is an entertaining watch with some witty one liners but one which may have a fleeting cause for remembrance just like a party rather than ‘the party’.
