Among the aristocracy
‘Downton Abbey: A New Era’ a proper British feast for fans
The blandly titled “Downton Abbey: A New Era” is hardly new. It’s more of the same old thing. In fact, that is the whole idea, I believe. Director Simon Curtis (“Goodbye Christopher Robin”), taking the place of American Michael Engler of the 2019 film, and writer and “Downton Abbey” creator Julian Fellowes (“The Gilded Age”) have come up with a workable story, even if the film is for the most part a rehash of the Crawley clan’s old issues and intrigues. In this installment, Robert, Earl of Grantham (Hugh Bonneville), once again faces continued pressure keeping the glorious, if leaky, family residence and staff financially viable at a time when both seem to belong to a vanishing era.
His battle-axe mother Lady Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham (Maggie Smith), is nearing the end of her life, though her tongue remains razor sharp. She learns, along with the rest of the family, that a French aristocrat has willed her his villa in the French Riviera in memory of a week they spent together shortly before the birth of her son, Robert. A contingent of the Crawley family, including a concerned Robert, Robert’s ailing American wife Cora (Elizabeth McGovern), Lady Edith (Laura Carmichael), her husband Bertie Pelham, Marquess of Hexham (Harry Hadden-Paton), and the Crawley’s aging butler Carson (Jim Carter), embarks on a journey across the Channel to see the property and meet the aristocrat’s angry widow (Nathalie Baye) and oddly behaving son (Jonathan Zaccai).
Meanwhile, back in Yorkshire, Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery), somewhat ambiguously, welcomes a team of filmmakers into the family home because of the fee they will to pay to use it as a set. Among the filmmakers are handsome director Jack Barber (Hugh Dancy), who develops a crush on Mary, and silent film matinee idols Myrna Dagleish (Laura Haddock) and Guy Dexter (Dominic West).
In a twist right out of Stanley Donen’s 1952 classic “Singing in the Rain,” the action takes place just as silent films are being replaced by far more popular “talkies.” Myrna, who has the face of a goddess and the voice of a Liverpudlian washerwoman, fears sound. She also mistreats the servants, although eventually is befriended by them.
It is Mary who suggests that Barber convert to sound recording rather than shut down production, in a development that I found a bit implausible. Also hard to believe is that she would take over recording Myrna’s lines by dubbing the latter’s voice. As it turns out, film buff and former footman Mr. Molesley (Kevin Doyle) has a flair for writing dialogue as well. Thus, “Downton Abbey: A New Era” opens with a wedding, closes with a funeral and features a journey to the south of France and a film within a film like Francois Truffaut’s “Day for Night” in between.
“Downton Abbey: A New Era” remains an offshoot of the 1970s-era series “Upstairs, Downstairs” created and written by the Londonborn actress Eileen Atkins (“Paddington 2”), and the plot of both series follows the lives being lived both by masters and servants. Scullery maid Daisy Parker (Sophie McShera) and cook Mrs. Patmore (Lesley Nicol) are up to their usual tricks. Butler Barrow (Robert James-Collier) catches the eye of semi-closeted Dexter. Screenwriter Fellowes keeps the whole thing spinning brightly, which is his great skill. The art deco costumes by Maja Meschede and series veteran Anna Robbins are gleaming marvels.
“Downton Abbey: A New Era” probably won’t win any new converts. But the “Downton Abbey” crowd should be pleased enough.