After all, it is precisely for the film screen that the time of King George V is made up of buildings, costumes and the environment of the English countryside and the high societies living on it. The overall atmosphere of interwar England is breathtaking, and even for the plots, the Fellowes found sufficient supporting themes, so it is not an unnecessarily set mush.
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The problem will be more likely to be those spectators who do not know the series, and yet go to the cinema. It may take them longer to get acquainted with the characters. However, it cannot be assumed that there will be too many of them.
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The series began with the news of the sinking of the Titanic and then guided the aristocratic Crawley family of the Earl and Countess of Grantham, their relatives and servants through various events and intrigues until 1925. The film followed their destinies and so it is this time.
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The story begins with a wedding, but it is not nearly as important as Grandma Violet’s statement that she inherited a villa in the south of France, which was once transcribed for her in her youth by a wealthy man she had met on the Riviera at the time.
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“Do I look like someone who declines a villa in France?” Violet answers with a typical sarcasm as to why she didn’t turn down the villa, if she had no idea why the young man had written it about her. And he does not intend to reject her even now that the donor has died and the widow wants to take the matter to court.
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So part of the family leaves for France to examine the whole embarrassing affair and the villa in particular. However, she soon faces a suspicion that she would definitely like to do without.
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The second part of the family faces an even more challenging task, enduring the presence of filmmakers for a whole month, who chose their estate to shoot an amazing (still silent) Hollywood blockbuster. Until recently, this was completely unthinkable, but it flows into the roof, the estate is falling into disrepair and the filmmakers are offering a catfish for rent, which would heal all the holes.
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The contrast between the old English family, in which the butler oversees all the rules, including determined but very polite dealings with the servants, and “that filmmaking mess whose relentless hands need to be watched out” is amusing, as is “certain differences”. between the English and French nobility.
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But perhaps the most compelling is the transformation of cinema. The advent of sound sent many big stars into oblivion, everything on the screen changed dramatically. “Now they’re starting to hire real actors,” the beautiful, spoiled star, who can’t talk about talent. The involvement of practically the whole family (and not only her) in the filming is then an opportunity to express, through the transformation of cinematography, a whole new era in which many are shaken in the basics and many will go away forever.
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The set and costumes have already been talked about, the film also has a beautiful camera and very good acting performances, among which Hugh Bonneville and Michelle Dockery are notable in the roles of those above and Sophie McShera and Lesley Nicol as those below. And as always, the still great Maggie Smith as Grandma Violet will be pleased.
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| Downton Manor |
| Great Britain / USA 2022, 125 min. Director: Simon Curtis, starring: Maggie Smith, Hugh Bonneville, Michelle Dockery and others |
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