The most recent Downton Abbey film, Downton Abbey: A New Era, available for home viewing, will spark emotions in the hearts of true fans. Just as the previous Downton feature, simply called Downton Abbey, from 2019, this follow-up to the incredibly successful television series by masterful story-teller Julian Fellowes, conveys a fast-paced series of stories about the extended Crawley family, they and those around them.
Hard to believe, it’s been more than a decade since audiences first met the Crawleys of Downton Abbey. We have seen them through love affairs, a world war, sickness, surprising and heart-breaking deaths. We have witnessed marriages, births. We have admired the fashions, followed each of the Crawley women particularly through pain and pleasure. Most enjoyably, we have snickered at the sparring between Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham, played by the incomparable Maggie Smith) and her dear friend, who one will recall started out as her nemesis, Isobel Crawley (played by wonderful Penelope Wilton).
And there are the ever-fascinating goings-on of the downstairs folks…. Now butler Mr. Barrows’ adventures and character development, alone, could fill a series of novels. Then there is stuffy but appealing Mr. Carson and, of course, Mrs. Hughes, and Mr. and Mrs. Bates and their rocky romance due to complications involving his first wife. Mrs. Patmore and the kindly tenant farmer…. Daisy and her love life and her growing interests.
Does this sound like one of the most engrossing soap operas of the past decade? To me, it is. So, for me, Downton Abbey: A New Era is a gift.
As the film begins, the Dowager Countess unexpectedly has inherited a beautiful villa In the South of France from a gentleman who for a short time was special in her life. My goodness, what a thrilling romantic life Violet has had! Remember the Russian noble? Someday there will be a prequel in the franchise, where a young British actress will play Violet and fans will learn even more about her romantic exploits and willful personality. It’s no secret that now the Dowager is a dying woman, so she immediately makes plans to leave the property to little Sophie Branson, her great granddaughter. That’s the springboard to one of the plots in this busy tale.
A second major plot is the making of a movie on the premises of Downton Abbey by British Lion. Since the year is 1928, the production begins as a silent film but soon turns into a transitional sound film. With the hubbub of film production, and various adventures going on upstairs, downstairs, and secrets unfolding at home and on the Riviera…. Well, it’s non-stop fun.
However, for those who have not followed episode by episode, I imagine it would be a tiresome journey. The characters may not be clearly defined for newcomers. If one does not know Lady Mary’s romances and marriages, would her current situation be interesting? If one does not know that Mr. Barrows is a gay man living at a time when it may have been wise to bury that fact of one’s life, and that he has been a rogue at times, would one understand his decisions?
Would the ending come as a surprise to those who had not seen the 2019 movie?
If one is a true supporter of a movie franchise, then one has to get on the ball and see each measure of the whole. It’s true with Harry Potter, Star Wars, the Marvel superheroes films. And it is true of Downton Abbey and all its components. Every episode, each follow-up feature film brings Downton devotees closer to personalities about whom they have grown to care. In this franchise, Fellowes has written some of the most vibrant and lucid characters of 21st century film and television.
Audrey Kupferberg is a film and video archivist and retired appraiser. She is lecturer emeritus and the former director of Film Studies at the University at Albany and co-authored several entertainment biographies with her late husband and creative partner, Rob Edelman.
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