The Party (2017)

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Jinny	Emily Mortimer
Tom	Cillian Murphy	½
Janet, an idealist	Kristin Scott Thomas	½
Martha	Cherry Jones
Bill, a materialist	Timothy Spall
April, a cynic and realist	Patricia Clarkson	½
Gottfried	Bruno Ganz

Review

Independent filmmaker Sally Potter is the woman behind this little chamber piece of social criticism, set in a British middle-class house where an assortment of long-time, middle-aged friends meet to celebrate the hostess' (Kristin Scott Thomas) recent appointment as shadow health minister. As they settle into their old group dynamics, centered around their differences in ideology, the tension rises with equal parts comedy and tragedy as a result. The film is exclusively character-driven and dialogue-based. And although the tone is set early, Potter manages to create seven different personalities in the midst of it all. We get to share their ideas and realize through their seven separate voices that there are no simple answers, because there's always a valid counter-argument to every question. Inspired acting by the entire ensemble, who really revel in their parts, elevates The Party to 71 minutes of sheer quality.