Cinematic Releases: Downton Abbey: A New Era (2022) - Reviewed

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Courtesy of Focus Features
After the 2019 Downton Abbey film based on the hit ITV British television series raked in more than $194 million worldwide against a modest $20 million budget, it was inevitable yet another dose of Downton Abbey fanservice in cinematic form would be made.  Against the still unfolding COVID-19 pandemic, the show’s chief creator Julian Fellowes remained busy in costumed period television including but not limited to creating three shows Belgravia, The English Game and most recently The Gilded Age.  Immediately after finishing The Gilded Age, Fellowes started writing what would become the latest installment entitled Downton Abbey: A New Era which was conceived entirely during the pandemic with the show’s main star Hugh Bonneville as the beloved Robert Crawley, 7th Earl of Grantham, stating filming wouldn’t begin until the entire cast and crew was vaccinated.

 
In something of a meta offering set in 1928 following the marriage of Tom Branson (Allen Leech) to his wife Lucy (Tuppence Middleton), two new major developments hit the Downton Abbey estate and family.  The first being Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham (Maggie Smith) has inherited a villa in France from a man she knew in the 1860s which she intends to transfer ownership of to her great-granddaughter Sybbie, something the previous owner Mme de Montmirail (Nathalie Baye) isn’t ready to let go of the reins.  Meanwhile a British film studio intends to make a picture on the Downton Abbey estate grounds and mansion while Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) is left to supervise while the rest of the family travels to inspect the villa. 

 
Replacing director Michael Engler who did a number of original episodes for the show with Woman in Gold director Simon Curtis (married to Downton actress Elizabeth McGovern) and even going as far as bringing on board Gosford Park (also penned by Fellowes) cinematographer Andrew Dunn, this newest installment in the ongoing Downton Abbey saga unlike the first has a decidedly more traditionally anamorphic widescreen look to it.  While both films were shot in 2.35:1, something about this A New Era installment looks more overtly filmic with the curvature of the anamorphic lenses reshaping the look of Downton Abbey we’re used to seeing.  It’s the same old cast and much of the same crew with just a few new fresh pairs of eyes to give it a more cinematic flavor.
 
The stakes and spectacle aren’t as high as the first film though neither film is short on the cute factor with many of the film’s romantic subplots and twists coming about casually.  The greatest new additions to the Downton cast are debatably the two silent movie “actors” brought onto the estate grounds, gentlemanly leading man Guy Dexter (Dominic West) and bratty starley Myrna Dagleish (Laura Haddock), who each bring something unique to the Downton Abbey dynamic and leaves ample room for the servants to assist them on their difficult journey from the silent film world to “talkies”.  There’s also room for meta in-jokes concerning Robert Crawley’s complaints about a film being shot on the Downton grounds given the show and films themselves were shot on the very real Highclere Castle grounds.

 
A lighthearted dose of costumed period British escapism as fan service to the show’s ensemble cast of characters, this new Downton Abbey: A New Era doesn’t engage quite as strongly as the first film but nevertheless is still for longtime followers a fun romp.  While nothing Downton Abbey related will for me reach the heights of the original first three seasons of the show which prominently featured actor Dan Stevens who has since moved on to a prolific mainstream film acting career, this most recent offering continues the journey for the dedicated fans while introducing new characters and subplots into the saga.  Longtime fans are sure to leave the theater with a smile on their faces.

--Andrew Kotwicki