''The Party'' is a 2017 British

black comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to disc ...

film written and directed by

Sally Potter Charlotte Sally Potter (born 19 September 1949) is an English film director and screenwriter. She is known for directing ''Orlando'' (1992), which won the audience prize for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival. Early life Potter was born an ...

. The film was shot in

black and white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

and features a seven-actor ensemble of

Patricia Clarkson Patricia Davies Clarkson (born December 29, 1959) is an American actress. She has starred in numerous leading and supporting roles in a variety of films ranging from independent film features to major film studio productions. Her accolades in ...

Bruno Ganz Bruno Ganz (; 22 March 1941 – 16 February 2019) was a Swiss actor whose career in German stage, television and film productions spanned nearly 60 years. He was known for his collaborations with the directors Werner Herzog, Éric Rohmer, Franc ...

Cherry Jones Cherry Jones (born November 21, 1956) is an American actress known for her roles on screen and stage. She has received various accolades for her performances in television and theatre including three Primetime Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards, th ...

Emily Mortimer Emily Kathleen Anne Mortimer (born 6 October 1971) is a British-American actress. She began acting in stage productions and has since appeared in several film and television roles. In 2003, she won an Independent Spirit Award for her performanc ...

Cillian Murphy Cillian Murphy (; born 25 May 1976) is an Irish actor. Originally the lead singer, guitarist, and lyricist of the rock band The Sons of Mr. Green Genes, he turned down a record deal in the late 1990s and began acting on stage and in short an ...

Kristin Scott Thomas Dame Kristin Ann Scott Thomas (born 24 May 1960) is a British actress who also holds French citizenship. A five-time BAFTA Award and Olivier Award nominee, she won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for '' Four Weddings ...

and

Timothy Spall Timothy Leonard Spall (born 27 February 1957) is an English actor and presenter. He became a household name in the UK after appearing as Barry Spencer Taylor in the 1983 ITV comedy-drama series '' Auf Wiedersehen, Pet''. Spall performed in '' ...

. It was selected to compete for the

Golden Bear The Golden Bear (german: Goldener Bär) is the highest prize awarded for the best film at the Berlin International Film Festival. The bear is the heraldic animal of Berlin, featured on both the coat of arms and flag of Berlin. History The win ...

in the main competition section of the

67th Berlin International Film Festival The 67th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 9 to 18 February 2017 with Dutch filmmaker Paul Verhoeven as President of the Jury. '' Django'', directed by Etienne Comar, opened the festival. The Golden Bear was awarded to the ...

and was awarded the Guild Film Prize. The film received positive reviews from critics.

Plot

Janet, a politician for the opposition party, has just been announced as

shadow A shadow is a dark area where light from a light source is blocked by an opaque object. It occupies all of the three-dimensional volume behind an object with light in front of it. The cross section of a shadow is a two- dimensional silhouett ...

minister for health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental health. Coun ...

and is having a small celebratory party at her house. Invited are her friends April; April's estranged German partner Gottfried, a life coach and self-proclaimed spiritual healer;

women's studies Women's studies is an academic field that draws on feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining social and cultural constructs of gender; systems of privilege and oppress ...

professor Martha; her partner Jinny, a renowned chef; and Janet's colleague and subordinate Marianne with husband Tom, a handsome younger

banker A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Becaus ...

. Before the party begins and after the guests arrive, Janet's husband Bill slumps in his chair listening to jazz, staring vacantly, and drinking several glasses of wine. All invited guests arrive with the exception of Marianne, who Tom says vaguely will arrive later. Tom is visibly agitated and immediately locks himself in the bathroom, where he cuts and snorts

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly used recreationally for its euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from the leaves of two Coca species native to South Am ...

, examines a handgun he has brought with him and nervously eggs himself on in the bathroom mirror. Janet has so far discreetly exchanged several snatched phone calls and text messages with an unknown lover. April, who continually mocks and belittles Gottfried, proposes a toast to Janet on her Ministerial appointment. Trumping the celebration, Martha and Jinny announce that Jinny is pregnant with triplets via

in vitro fertilisation In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a process of fertilisation where an egg is combined with sperm in vitro ("in glass"). The process involves monitoring and stimulating an individual's ovulatory process, removing an ovum or ova (egg or eggs) ...

. This is in turn followed by Bill announcing that he has just been informed by his doctor he is

terminally ill Terminal illness or end-stage disease is a disease that cannot be cured or adequately treated and is expected to result in the death of the patient. This term is more commonly used for progressive diseases such as cancer, dementia or advanced h ...

with advanced cancer. Gottfried tells him that Western medicine is not to be believed and that by exploring his spiritual capacities, Bill may have a chance of an extended life. Bill, a well-known

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

intellectual with no belief in a deity, listens to Gottfried's talk of spirituality, apparently with an open-mind. Janet announces she must resign from her Shadow Minister position to give end of life care to Bill, but Bill responds by announcing that he is leaving her to spend his final days with Marianne, a fact that Tom had learned earlier that day. After berating Bill, Tom runs into the backyard where, agitated, he throws his gun into the dustbin. While Jinny and Martha are talking about their future as parents, Martha patronizes Jinny, who is deeply hurt and tells Martha that she will leave her. Martha then confesses to Jinny that she fears what will happen to their relationship once the three babies are born, and pleads with Jinny to stay with her. Events have caused Janet to forget the canapes which have been burnt to ash in the oven. Janet throws the smoking

vol-au-vent A ''vol-au-vent'' (pronounced , French for "windblown", to describe its lightness) is a small hollow case of puff pastry. It was formerly also called a patty case. . A ''vol-au-vent'' is typically made by cutting two circles in rolled out ...

s into the dustbin, finding the gun Tom had thrown there and takes it with her back into the house, locking herself in the bathroom and hiding the gun there. She lets April into the bathroom and they talk about what happened. She asks April, who has been cynical the whole time, to speak honestly with her. April tells her that she is proud of her accomplishments. Gottfried deploys counselling techniques to Tom and Bill in their distress, but emotions escalate out of control when Bill, by now very drunk, rambles about the love that Marianne and he share. Tom punches him in the face, knocking him out. Gottfried and Tom fear Tom has killed Bill and they try to resuscitate him, eventually seeking help from the others. They retrieve Janet from the locked bathroom, just as she was about to tell April an important secret. Janet manages to resuscitate Bill, who looks her in the eyes and asks, "How did it come to this?" At that moment, the doorbell rings, everyone including the audience assuming it to be Marianne, arriving at last. Janet rushes to the bathroom, grabs the gun, runs to open the door, aims the gun at the unseen visitor on the doorstep and exclaims "You told me you loved me. ''ME!'' You traitor!" Action cuts to black.

Cast

as April, Janet's best friend, a cynic and realist *

as Gottfried, April's estranged boyfriend, a

pseudo-scientific Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable claim ...

healer *

as Martha, Janet's friend, a

professor *

as Jinny, Martha's pregnant partner, a famous chef *

as Tom, "in finance", the husband of Marianne, Janet's subordinate *

as Janet, an

idealistic In philosophy, the term idealism identifies and describes metaphysical Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality ...

politician *

as Bill, Janet's husband, a

materialist Materialism is a form of philosophical monism which holds matter to be the fundamental substance in nature, and all things, including mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions. According to philosophical materiali ...

and

professor

Release

In February 2017, ''The Party'' competed at

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the fest ...

. In May 2017, Picturehouse Entertainment and

Roadside Attractions Roadside Attractions is an American production company and film distributor based in Los Angeles, California, founded on July 27, 2000, by Howard Cohen and Eric d’Arbeloff, specializing largely in independent films An independent film, in ...

acquired UK and U.S. distribution rights to the film respectively. The film was released in the UK on 13 October 2017. In the US, the film was given a

limited release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unit ...

on February 16, 2018.

Critical reception

''The Party'' received positive reviews from film critics. It holds a critical approval rating of 81% on

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, based on 150 reviews, with an average rating of 6.96/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Old-fashioned charm meets sharp wit and modern social satire in ''The Party'', a biting comedy carried by a shining performance from Patricia Clarkson." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the film holds a rating of 73 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Peter Bradshaw of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'' described the film as 'observant and smart' in his review.

Awards and nominations

''The Party'' was awarded the Guild Film Prize at the 2017

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Party, The 2017 films 2017 comedy-drama films British black-and-white films British black comedy films British comedy-drama films British LGBT-related films British satirical films Films directed by Sally Potter Films about parties Films set in London Roadside Attractions films 2010s satirical films 2010s English-language films 2010s British films