Downton Abbey: A New Era film review
A second big-screen helping of Julian Fellowes’ drama
I’ve always had “a bit of a soft spot” for Downton, said Deborah Ross in The Spectator. Tuning into a new offering is reassuring, like “putting on a pair of old slippers”. But even my patience was tested by A New Era, the second Downton film spin-off. We’re now in 1928, and the dowager countess (Maggie Smith) has unexpectedly inherited a villa from a French aristocrat, with whom she had a dalliance many moons ago. As a “posse of Downton residents” decamp to the Riviera to inspect the property, Downton itself is invaded by a film crew who are paying through the nose to use the building as a set. All the usual Downton ingredients crop up – “a birth, a proposal, a death, a paternity worry, a health scare” – but there’s far too much exposition, and the writing is often woeful. “Old slippers? Sometimes they have to go.”
Yes, this film is “a bit silly”, said Matthew Bond in the Daily Mail, but it’s also “charming, well acted” and funny to boot. Keep the faith through the “clumsy-feeling start” and you’ll find yourself watching a film that is “huge fun” and rather poignant. “It is, of course, several leagues below” 2001’s Gosford Park, Fellowes’ “original country-house movie”, said Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian. And yet “I have to admit – like someone with an empty tube of Pringles in their hand that was full ten minutes ago – that I did find this film entertaining”. There’s something riveting about its mix of “deadly serious melodrama and bizarre glassy-eyed pathos”. All the same, I hope this is the last Downton instalment. If Fellowes does insist on eking it out, perhaps he could revisit the family in the 1970s, when they have been “reduced to penury by exorbitant but highly justified rates of tax”.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
The mental health crisis affecting vets
Under The Radar Death of Hampshire vet highlights mental health issues plaguing the industry
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
The Onion is having a very ironic laugh with Infowars
The Explainer The satirical newspaper is purchasing the controversial website out of bankruptcy
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
'Rahmbo, back from Japan, will be looking for a job? Really?'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Ed Park's 6 favorite works about self reflection and human connection
Feature The Pulitzer Prize finalist recommends works by Jason Rekulak, Gillian Linden, and more
By The Week US Published
-
6 fantastic homes in Columbus, Ohio
Feature Featuring a 1915 redbrick Victorian in German Village and a modern farmhouse in Woodland Park
By The Week Staff Published
-
Drawing the Italian Renaissance: a 'relentlessly impressive' exhibition
The Week Recommends Show at the King's Gallery features an 'enormous cache' of works by the likes of Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael
By The Week UK Published
-
Niall Williams shares his favourite books
The Week Recommends The Irish novelist chooses works by Charles Dickens, Seamus Heaney and Wendell Berry
By The Week UK Published
-
Patriot: Alexei Navalny's memoir is as 'compelling as it is painful'
The Week Recommends The anti-corruption campaigner's harrowing book was published posthumously after his death in a remote Arctic prison
By The Week UK Published
-
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: a 'magical' show with 'an electrifying emotional charge'
The Week Recommends The 'vivacious' Fitzgerald adaptation has a 'shimmering, soaring' score
By The Week UK Published
-
Bird: Andrea Arnold's 'strange, beguiling and quietly moving' drama
The Week Recommends Barry Keoghan stars in 'fearless' film combining social and magical realism
By The Week UK Published
-
Kate Summerscale's 6 favorite true crime books about real murder cases
Feature The best-selling author recommends works by Helen Garner, Gwen Adshead, and more
By The Week US Published