Aristocrats gather at a country house for a spot of pheasant plucking in this 2001 drama, until their shooting weekend becomes a poisoning investigation.

Directed by Robert Altman, this 1930s England period piece is strange subject matter for the American master to tackle. The stuffy setting and lack of his usual improvisation stifle the director’s cynical and free-flowing Satire. Yet despite the constraints of the screenplay by Lord Julian Fellowes, Altman’s direction is peerless.

The filmmaker’s flair for the ensemble is on full display, gathering a British cast so exhaustive it literally runs out of talent and enlists Laurence Fox. The core cast is a who’s who of UK heavyweights, including Maggie Smith, Helen Mirren, Michael Gambon, Kristin Scott Thomas, Stephen Fry, Richard E. Grant and Derek Jacobi.

Every scene bustles with life and detail, Altman’s camera restlessly probing the eponymous estate. The film forms the basis of Downton Abbey, a cross-section of the British class system that runs through the picture’s spine like a stick of rock. But Altman’s subversive instincts are compromised by Fellowes’ reverence for the aristocracy, resulting in a class satire that pulls its punches; unusual for a director who once punched a producer for trying to cut six minutes from one of his movies.