The Manor [DVD] [1999]

This is a very strange film supposed to be set in England about 1900 in a very sumptuous manorial residence of the era known as Ravenscroft, which is actually a vast mansion in Czechoslovakia with a very baroque interior. Greta Scacchi plays the chatelaine, Mrs. Ravenscroft, very well. Peter O'Toole is her late husband. The story is centred on the fact that Mr. Ravenscroft has come to a sticky end at the foot of the very gracious staircase; similarly so has Roger, the general handyman. A Scotland Yard foreign inspector, Martin Dejdar has been sent to investigate. There is a young daughter who is supposed to suffer from some mental instability and given to visions plus a housemaid,Dolly. There is also an English girl, Charlotte played by Gabrielle Anwar who has left a young child with a convent in Vienna and is now employed as a sort of au pair. Also part of the menage is the cook, Mrs. Ellen French. As the inspector starts his investigation a great snowstorm is raging with wolves howling making the whole place an enclosed environment. As he questions each of the women he finds constant conflicting evidence with everyone concocting a different story around each of the two deaths. Did either of the men fall or was each pushed and various permutations. Every now and then there is a loud whoosh sound and a flashback is shown as to what may have taken place. There are also sudden strange inserts such as when the inspector is questioning the cook while she is chopping meat she suddenly appears to pick up the large chunk of meat and hurl it at him but of course she hasn't actually done so, it is just an expression of her feelings, then the film returns to the scene as though nothing had happened. Slightly unsettling the first time this happens.
The inspector is drinking quite a lot of red wine and becomes intoxicated but still continues his interrogations. There is a rather too long drawn out scene of this which rather mars the effect.
The filming is very good and virtually all of the story is played out within the manor with a few outside shots of snow and wolves.
Right at the very end the inspector says what he is going to put in his report and among the closing credits is a brief summary of what happened to each of main characters which illuminates the essence of what the film is about. On the whole the acting and the lighting are very good and you want to know what happens next.
I have only attributed 4 stars because of the intoxicated inspector scene and I have never seen a comparable film against which it can be rated.