Downton Abbey: Royal Jousts (Review)

The cult series is available as a feature film. Despite a scenario that borders on indigestion, the charm works.

Released in cinemas on September 25, 2019, Downton Abbey returns this evening on television, on France 3. Here is the review of First :

Behind Downton Abbey, there is Julian Fellowes, an author who knows what he is talking about since, in addition to his functions as actor, screenwriter, producer and director, he sits in the House of Lords from where he can openly observe the royal jousts. Fellowes wrote almost twenty years ago for Robert Altman Gosford Park matrix of Downton Abbey where it was in the form of a whodunit to explore the relationships between masters and servants within a sumptuous property in the English countryside. No real crimes – other than lèse-majesté – Downton Abbey but the same coming and going between the kitchens and the living rooms where dishes are passed around over the seasons (6) and times.

The action of the film directed by the American Michael Engler takes place precisely in 1927. “Since Edith’s marriage, a lot has changed at Downton Abbey” indicates the synopsis. Those who open the doors of the beautiful home for the first time don’t really care, the others already know that. Let’s move on. The idea here is that the king and queen are preparing to stay at Downton Abbey. Fighting action. In the basement, the staff bricks already shiny dishes. Upstairs, the beautiful people are busy. Everyone prepares to give the best of themselves. And patatra, the private staff of the crown arrives, dictates its law and puts the staff of Downton Abbey on the key. A reception that is more royal is a spectacle. This is what the film describes, which takes the form of a sophisticated comedy which feeds itself into small intrigues. The “series” effect is in full play and the scenario continues to add water to a spinning mill without there being any need to blow too much on it. The whole thing indeed sins by a narrative excess which ends up turning against a spectator, certainly under the spell, but soon stunned by an unstoppable mechanism.

The trailer for the film Downton Abbey :

Downton Abbey: the best lines from Countess Violet Crawley (Maggie Smith)