It’s 1928 at Downton when Violet Crawley (Maggie Smith) receives some shocking news. The Marquis de Montmirail–an old flame of hers, unsurprisingly–has died and left her a villa in the South of France. Lady Grantham decides to leave the villa to her granddaughter Sybbie, leading Robert, Cora, and several other members of the family to meet the new Marquis in France for a discussion of the will. While the Marquis is compliant with his father’s wishes, his mother won’t give up the villa so easily. Back at Downton, Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) and the servants prepare to usher in a so-called “new era.” Filmmaker Jack Barber (Hugh Dancy) arrives with actors Guy Dexter (Dominic West) and Myrna Dalgleish (Laura Haddock) to direct his new silent film, The Gambler, right there at Downton. While Jack’s interest in Mary tests her faithfulness to her absent husband, the film’s production experiences several challenges of its own. Everything ties up beautifully in the end for Downton’s beloved individual characters. It’s the film’s two significant plotlines, however, that fail to compel. In one, the conflict is not even carried through to its natural end. In the other, it’s acceptable to rip off the plot of Singin’ in the Rain. And in both, it’s apparently fine to proudly display derogatory comments regarding cultural differences–about the “inferior” French way of doing things, and “ghastly” American regional accents. But we’d be kidding ourselves if we held that the hope for Downton Abbey: A New Era was ground-breaking storylines and social commentary. The English period drama has long fulfilled its place in fans’ hearts as a diverting comfort watch, providing an inside look into the more glamorous challenges of the upper class and the drama among the people who serve them–all within a context of contained, quickly-resolved conflict. Fellowes not only seamlessly captures beloved qualities of the franchise; he even makes improvements by tying up loose threads and correcting the series’ old mistakes (i.e. its formerly repeated mistreatment of show’s only gay character). Ultimately, the new Downton Abbey film doesn’t accomplish anything profound. It hardly ushers in a new era, apart from what such a statement always means at Downton. The upper class meets the modern world (in this case, moving pictures!) and has to adapt. Still, the movie is idyllic, charming, and fun–in short, nearly everything fans could have hoped for. Downton Abbey: A New Era is the ultimate comfort watch–but a previous affinity for the TV characters and melodramatic plotlines is almost certainly required for that to be the case. Read More: Downton Abbey: A New Era Ending Explained
