The Invitation

This movie had a considerable reputation in the 1970s, and made Goretta a significant international name--though somehow both those things faded out after the decade's end. "The Invitation" is basically one of those "Everybody is invited for a party, then after a few drinks all their true personalities and hypocrises come out," and we've all seen that before. Here, things are "opened up" a bit by having the setting be a spacious country home which the party-giver has acquired with money inherited from his beloved late mother, and to which he invites all his former coworkers from a generic office.

But without turning in any particularly novel (let alone melodramatic) direction, this winds up being among the best of its type. There's a fondness for human foibles that makes the gradual degeneration into messy behavior touching rather than pat or predictable, and all the characters transcend our initial impressions. It's a movie that has elements of pathos, social satire, and more, all of which are expertly calibrated to balance out. You can see why this movie has been somewhat forgotten--its pleasures are all ultimately rather low-key--but that's a pity, not just because it's very good but also because it's dated less than many better-remembered films of its period.