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The Party (2017 film)

2017 film directed by Sally Potter

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 21, 2026
Entity authorityQ28173298 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Party is a 2017 British black comedy film written and directed by Sally Potter. The film was released in black and white and features a seven-actor ensemble of Patricia Clarkson, Bruno Ganz, Cherry Jones, Emily Mortimer, Cillian Murphy, Kristin Scott Thomas and Timothy Spall.

It was selected to compete for the Golden Bear in the main competition section of the 67th Berlin International Film Festival and was awarded the Guild Film Prize. The film received positive reviews from critics.

Plot

Janet, a prominent British politician in the Parliamentary opposition party, has just been announced as shadow minister for health. She has invited her friends to a small celebration at her house, including April, April's estranged German partner Gottfried who is a life coach and self-proclaimed spiritual healer, women's studies professor Martha and her partner Jinny who is a renowned chef, and Janet's colleague and subordinate Marianne with husband Tom, a handsome younger banker.

Janet's husband Bill slumps in his chair listening to jazz, staring vacantly, and heavily drinking as the guests arrive. Marianne fails to arrive, and Tom explains she'll be late. Tom, visibly agitated, locks himself in the bathroom, where he snorts cocaine and brandishes a handgun in the bathroom mirror. Janet meanwhile has been discretely exchanging phone calls and text messages with an unknown lover.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “The Party (2017 film)” as 2017 film directed by Sally Potter. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Party, film and directed.

Editorial reviewA useful identification and reception guide that helps separate the work itself from editions, performances, ownership and later interpretation. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2017—that can be checked directly. The authority record carries competing date values—2017-02-13, 2017-07-27, 2017-10-27, 2018-01-04—which should remain separate until their references and qualifiers are resolved. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Party, film and directed providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “The Party (2017 film)”, the useful work is to connect “2017 film directed by Sally Potter” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q28173298. The Library of Congress control number is no2018084372. 3 of 6 selected statements include explicit references; 4 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2017.

Critical limits

Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “The Party (2017 film)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow The Party (2017 film) primary sources, The Party (2017 film) archive and Party research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “The Party (2017 film)”?
  2. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
  3. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “The Party (2017 film)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.