As the senior Crawelys and Carson the butler head to the south of France to discover why a French marquis bequeathed his beautiful chateau to a now infirm Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham (Maggie Smith), Mary (Michelle Dockery) agrees to allow a production company to film a romantic silent film at Downton (a common and vulgar activity that Robert and Carsten are glad to be a channel away from). I found the 'filming' story-line interesting at first, especially the consequences of the silent-to-talkies transition (I suspect that Julian Fellows has seen 'Singing in the Rain') but found the closure of the story to be pat and predictable. I particularly disliked Daisy's (Sophie McShera) risible 'chin up' speech to distraught diva Myrna Dalgleish (Laura Haddock) and thought that the final 'film within a film' dinner scene was contrived and gimmicky. Meanwhile, in France, the mystery of Violet's inheritance and the existential shock the possible answer sends through the family was well done and the party scenes at the Provençal chateau rich in the opulence and pomp that made the show so popular. Most fans of the series (and I am one) will like the film but I found it to be a bit weaker than the previous film (in which the Sovereign Himself drops by for dinner).
Review of Downton Abbey: A New Era
Downton Abbey: A New Era
(2022)
Has most of the elements than made the series so popular
4 December 2022