Downton Abbey
Directed by: Michael Engler
Written by: Julian Fellowes
Starring: Hugh Bonneville, Laura Carmichael, Jim Carter, Raquel Cassidy, Brendan Coyle, Michelle Dockery, Kevin Doyle, Michael Fox, Joanne Froggett, Matthew Goode, Harry Hadden-Paton, Robert James-Collier, Allen Leech, Phyllis Logan, Elizabeth McGovern, Sophie McShera, Lesley Nicol, Douglas Reith, Maggie Smith, Penelope Wilton, Mark Addy, Stephen Campbell-Moore, Richenda Carey, David Haig, Andrew Havill, Geraldine James, Simon Jones, Tuppence Middleton, Kate Phillips, Philippe Spall, Imelda Staunton
Drama - 122 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 16 Sep 2019
Written by: Julian Fellowes
Starring: Hugh Bonneville, Laura Carmichael, Jim Carter, Raquel Cassidy, Brendan Coyle, Michelle Dockery, Kevin Doyle, Michael Fox, Joanne Froggett, Matthew Goode, Harry Hadden-Paton, Robert James-Collier, Allen Leech, Phyllis Logan, Elizabeth McGovern, Sophie McShera, Lesley Nicol, Douglas Reith, Maggie Smith, Penelope Wilton, Mark Addy, Stephen Campbell-Moore, Richenda Carey, David Haig, Andrew Havill, Geraldine James, Simon Jones, Tuppence Middleton, Kate Phillips, Philippe Spall, Imelda Staunton
Drama - 122 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 16 Sep 2019
Dropping in on Downton Abbey without an invitation, meaning without succumbing to the six seasons of television backstory, is a brazen act, perhaps even a fool’s errand. For there are what appear to be dozens of characters each beholden to their respective melodramas who have no patience to idly stand by and wait for any neophytes to catch up. You have either put in the work and are to be rewarded with a feature-length trip to an era you believe superior to most, or you are a Downton pagan and will be treated like the barbarian you are with minimal clues on who is related to whom, who is dead, who is beloved, and who is loathed. This reviewer’s mother offered him the Wikipedia version of what he was walking into, but it an exercise of flinging plot and characters against the wall to see what stuck. Viewer beware - if you have never seen the show, best of luck to you and I will empathize with your befuddlement on the other side.
The quickest way to determine an audience member’s Downton acumen will be the butler switcheroo. When informed the King and Queen of Britannia are to descend upon the mansion, everyone springs into giddy action. Mr. Barrow (Robert James-Collier), the head butler and apparently the most senior employee on the downstairs organization chart, seems more than capable of shepherding the preparations. Lady Mary Talbot (Michelle Dockery, Non-Stop) disagrees and pleads with the recently retired Mr. Carson (Jim Carter, My Week with Marilyn) to return to his head butler post and take over from Mr. Barrow who is in over his head. We Downton infants automatically side with Mr. Barrow - he seems more than capable and it should be his time to shine. But, how are we to know we are not supposed to like him and should gush and giggle at the mere thought of Mr. Carson strolling back to his former life? I suppose it would be like arriving late to Cheers and rooting for Kirstie Alley over Shelly Long.
The quickest way to determine an audience member’s Downton acumen will be the butler switcheroo. When informed the King and Queen of Britannia are to descend upon the mansion, everyone springs into giddy action. Mr. Barrow (Robert James-Collier), the head butler and apparently the most senior employee on the downstairs organization chart, seems more than capable of shepherding the preparations. Lady Mary Talbot (Michelle Dockery, Non-Stop) disagrees and pleads with the recently retired Mr. Carson (Jim Carter, My Week with Marilyn) to return to his head butler post and take over from Mr. Barrow who is in over his head. We Downton infants automatically side with Mr. Barrow - he seems more than capable and it should be his time to shine. But, how are we to know we are not supposed to like him and should gush and giggle at the mere thought of Mr. Carson strolling back to his former life? I suppose it would be like arriving late to Cheers and rooting for Kirstie Alley over Shelly Long.
A thorough plot description would require an 8,000 word treatise, but it would also be an exercise in futility. First off, there is too much…of everything. Most television shows with large casts do not usually insert every character into every episode. Each take it in turn to move story development forward and then await their turn to move it again. The film, however, makes way for the full ensemble. All the downstairs and upstairs staples squish together, each with their own peculiar problem which must be solved by the two-hour mark. This makes for a problem infestation. Romances are threatened, feelings are hurt, a thief lurks, there are vague threats to their majesties’ persons - dresses are late, interlopers are frustrating, and whole estates may or may not be properly inherited. A Gordian Knot of quagmires indeed.
Downton aficionados will debate the merits of writer Julian Fellowes's decisions, but the film’s lead characters are Tom (Allen Leech, Bohemian Rhapsody), a leftover spouse from a deceased heir, and Lady Mary, a trendy flapper who makes everyone’s business her business. Tom is an Irishman by birth and in an eye-rolling series of hints and allegations, his allegiances are questioned. Mary puzzles over whether or not to maintain the country manor lifestyle. 1927 was indeed a long time ago, but it is also quite removed from the era we picture of lords, ladies, carriages, and footmen. Breezing in and out of the picture just long enough for a condescending snide remark or witty aside is everyone’s favorite character, the family traditionalist, Violet Crawley (Maggie Smith, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel). Maggie Smith feels like one of the show’s “must-haves.” The audience demanded Kramer burst through Jerry’s door at least once an episode. Hawkeye required three to five barbed comebacks at Frank Burns and Hot Lips. Julian Fellowes peppers Maggie Smith’s dialogue with at least one over-the-top “set ‘em up / shoot ‘em down” verbal spike in every conversation.
Director Michael Engler, who directed four episodes of the TV version and also has episodes of Sex and the City, Six Feet Under, and 30 Rock under his belt, is in awe of Highclere Castle, the real Hampshire estate stand-in for Downton Abbey’s Yorkshire setting. He includes so many soaring aerial circumference shots of the castle and surrounding grass and gravel it borders on a drinking game - take a shot every time Engler uses another circular shot for a transition! Prevailing stereotypes are these sorts of period dramas are stuffy and move at Maggie Smith’s marathon running pace; however, this film is a sprint. So many characters juggling so many plot points means no time for idle chatter and sipping tea. Engler and Fellowes have a season’s worth of side plots and melodramatic skullduggery to shoehorn in. Whether or not you support the Crawley family’s energy to continue an outmoded lifestyle depends on whether or not you considered its Sunday night PBS slot appointment viewing. Those of us elsewhere Sunday evenings could take it or leave it, but I have a hunch those already invested in the squirreling ups and downs of a literal upstairs/downstairs scenario will find more then enough nuts to chew on and titter about.
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