Sally Potter's Dysfunctional Party

This was a strange film -which is something to be expected from arthouse director Sally Potter. She’s known for being experimental, which has led to a very mixed reception towards her films over the course of her career. However I’ve only seen one of her movies, Orlando, her most popular. But I really liked it. So I came to The Party fresh, expecting some stylistic flourishes and narrative flexibility. And I certainly got that, as well as additional unusual choices.

Janet (Kristin Scott Thomas), the recently appointed Shadow Minister of Health is hosting a party with her disengaged husband Bill (Timothy Spall). The guests consist of two couples: April (Patricia Clarkson) and Gottfried (Bruno Ganz), Martha (Cherry Jones) and Jinny (Emily Mortimer), and Tom (Cillian Murphy) whose wife Marianne is due to arrive. But each character has a secret, and over the course of the evening, tensions rise, revelations come to light, and chaos erupts in the relationship of this social group.

This movie is a one-act play. It’s told using all the conventions of intimate social dark comedies on stage, such as the minimal cast, basic lighting, largely real-time pacing, and singular location. There’s even the appearance of a gun, and the rule regarding them as props in plays, though slightly subverted here. But unfortunately The Party also shares some of the lesser traits of that genre in its script. The exposition is astonishingly bad, with details of various characters’ histories coming up out of nowhere and not fitting into the flow of conversation. It’s one of the things that really denigrates the dialogue and makes the characters sound unnatural. April particularly is hard-done by this, by far the most abrasive, antagonizing figure in the room who often just seems there to provoke. For example, she randomly compares Gottfried to Nazis, mostly just because he’s German, and is harshly dismissive of and insulting towards Jinny’s pregnancy. Her pseudo-intellectual cynicism gets annoying fast as well. There’s also the fact that though advertised as a black comedy, most of the humour doesn’t kick in, or at least isn’t effective, until late in the film, after most of the demons have come out.

However most of the actors are doing a great job, at least as much as they can with some of the dialogue. Scott Thomas is great, as is an eccentric Spall, spending a lot of the movie sitting and staring, and just generally looking more weary and world-beaten than I’ve ever seen him before. Murphy, Mortimer, Jones, and Ganz all turn out good performances as well, putting in a lot of effort to each of their issues. Clarkson is the only one who’s not quite on form; though again it may largely be the writing and her characters’ aggravating demeanour that makes her cringing to watch. But even in the best performances there are bizarre moments. For instance, Scott Thomas goes through some weird rapid mood shifts late in the movie that I think are meant to be funny, but are lacking a joke.

Being a Sally Potter film, style is very notable to The Party; beginning with the fact it’s entirely shot in black and white for no real reason except for maybe the same cost-conducive grounds that Joss Whedon shot his Midsummer Night’s Dream under. If there is method to it, it’s not very apparent. There’s also definite commentary going on based around the personal philosophical outlooks of April, Gottfried, Martha, and eventually Bill, as well Janet’s new position that’s most likely Potter going through some philosophical introspection. But it kind of gets lost and doesn’t serve the story at all beyond bare motivation behind their actions. The film does that thing too where it opens at the end and then tells the story that leads there, and it’s a very vivid opening and closing. The ending isn’t quite what I was expecting given the lead-up, is less grim than it might have been, and in addition to some better comedy, has a terrific and funny pay-off of a final twist. And it does make a lot of the movies’ slow build and gradual reveals make sense and work a little better in retrospect.

The Party is essentially a less well-written, less funny, less violent version of Neil Simon’s Rumors. It’s not good, but it is interesting, worth watching if you like slightly experimental films and these kind of plays. Apart from a handful of strictly constructed shots (including the beginning/ending), it does feel a lot more suited for theatre than film. But I’d definitely suggest a rewrite or two before Potter takes it to the West End.