Good Morning Lovelies, 

The Party was a film that I had heard a lot about recently, as stars Kristin Scott Thomas and Cillian Murphy were celebrated at award shows for their performances. Now out on DVD, Blu-Ray and digitally, I can’t suggest that you watch it more lovelies.

Written and directed by Sally Potter, the film captures a party held over one evening and the people who come together in it. Celebrating a new job, baby and relationship, the film also brings devastation with a terminal illness announcement, violence and an impending breakup. All of which played out by a phenomenal all-star cast including Thomas, Murphy, Timothy Spall, Patricia Clarkson, Emily Mortimer and Bruno Ganz.

Each scene shows a relationship breaking down and the building comes crashing in on them. A popped cork smashes a window as if opening the soul of the room and crushing it for all to see. No one is likeable yet that plays in the film's favour. Characters are developed through their untimely actions. It is the split moments that highlight those little glimpses you spend with a person at a party.

 Every actor deserves an award for their work in the film, especially Spall, Thomas and Murphy, who all make you feel emotions of hate, love and sympathy at various times during viewing. Thomas plays a woman who could be at the top of her career and would be as the Shadow Health Minister, if her husband, played by Spall, hadn’t just been diagnosed with a tragic illness that threatens everything she thought she had in control.

Whilst Murphy’s character is a madman financier, who takes drugs, wields a gun and constantly moves around trying to get a hold of the entire situation. All of which characters the world and those in the media have no sympathy for.

Running for just over an hour, the black and white feature makes them seem like they are appearing in a Tarantino style script. Their characters are presented as manic and mad people, who try to cover the mishaps and misery they are facing with glamour and out of this world views on the planet, society and life.

Potter has made a film that makes out like a play, causing the film to be a great piece of British cinema, as it tries to emit the same energy that comes with a stage performance. It is a beautiful piece of cinematic talent, which highlights that audiences don’t need the long features or superhero stories all the time.

There so, I am giving the film…