The Party (Sally Potter, 2017)

The intermittently-directing Sally Potter, still best remembered for Orlando 25 years earlier, brings together a bunch of veteran thesp chums for a concise affair involving a ton of secrets emerging at a party to celebrate Kristin Scott Thomas's ascension to a shadow-ministerial position. It's fundamentally a black comedy, with strong echoes of Abigail's Party except without a single dominating socially paranoid monster, more a collection of navel-gazing middle-aged middle-class individuals with more subtle flaws. At an hour and ten minutes, it can hardly be said to overstay its welcome, but aside from the divertingly fine cast which also includes the likes of Timothy Spall and Bruno Ganz and some choice lines given to them, neither does it leave much to digest besides an overall air of social unease.

6/10