It’s been four years since Julian Fellowes and Gareth Neame’s hit ITV television series Downton Abbey ended after a successful sixth season. Though many characters and actors came and went through the show as it pressed on, for the most part the story of the British aristocracy at the beginning of the twentieth century around the outbreak of WWI retained most of the ensemble cast of characters.
Though
the show’s most beloved star Dan Stevens departed the show after the third
season, Huge Bonneville, Elizabeth McGovern, Laura Carmichael, Jim Carter, Maggie
Smith, Brendan Coyle, Michelle Dockery, Kevin Doyle, Joanne Froggatt, Phyllis
Logan and Sophie McShera pretty much all stayed through the show’s checkered
ups and downs. In addition to the show’s
familiar cast of characters, the film brings on many newcomers including but
not limited to Harry Potter actress
Imelda Staunton, David Haig, Max Brown and Tuppence Middleton as Lady Maud Bagshaw’s
maid with more than a few secrets of her own.
Originally intended to be a televised adaptation of the hit Robert Altman film Gosford Park also written by Fellowes, the program was rewritten into what became the Masterpiece Theater show Downton Abbey. Focusing on the interpersonal machinations running the Yorkshire country estate, the Golden Globe and Emmy Award winning series struck a chord with audiences around the world with numerous fan-event revivals celebrating the world of the show. Unlike Gosford Park which felt like an Agatha Christie murder mystery set within an aristocratic mansion, Downton Abbey instead is historical fiction incorporating real world events with amusing asides, dramatic conflicts and emotional payoffs peppered throughout.
The
series set within the very real Highclere Castle (which the show helped finance
the full restoration and tourism of) ended much like the seasonal finale
Christmas Special episodes: on a crowd-pleasing high note. Now four years later, the cast and crew of
the show have reassembled once more for one final adventure within the elite
interior aristocratic world of Downton
Abbey. The premise this time around brings
King George V (Simon Jones of The
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) and Queen Mary (Geraldine James) to
Downton for a Royal visit, with the longtime staff of the beloved estate and
the King’s staff clashing over their own respective ways of doing things.
Much
like the Christmas Specials, Downton
Abbey the movie is a sumptuous and lighthearted crowd pleaser sure to
entertain fans of the series with Fellowes returning to pen the screenplay and
veteran Abbey episode director
Michael Engler seated in the director’s chair.
Though the scope of the film is much grander and shot in 2.35:1
panoramic widescreen by Ben Smithard, Downton
Abbey more or less picks right up where Season 6 left off without missing a
beat or changing the rhythm of the show one iota. Think of it as a two-hour ultimate episode
designed for and presented in movie theaters.
Mostly
the film is a gift for the fans though newcomers won’t have a hard time picking
up on the inner workings of the household and longstanding relations amongst
the characters. Criticisms of the film
have complained of the lightheartedness and essential lack of serious conflict
within the film, but after the heavy hurdles the cast of characters had to
endure and overcome throughout the course of six seasons, they (and we) are
entitled a night off in Downton Abbey.
- Andrew Kotwicki
