Downton Abbey (2019)
Directed by Michael Engler
The beloved Crawleys and their intrepid staff prepare for the most important moment of their lives. A royal visit from the King and Queen of England will unleash scandal, romance and intrigue that will leave the future of Downton hanging in the balance.
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6 films that influenced Downton Abbey
What critics say influenced Downton Abbey
It’s reminiscent in this way of the 2008 film “Sex and the City,” which was strangely, lumpily paced and told a basically unnecessary story, but which was still true enough to its characters that it was embraced by fans.
And this isn't the worst writing, though I have come to find Fellowes a pretty irritating writer; his only absolute great project is 2001's Gosford Park (also an Upstairs, Downstairs knock-off, though one that has the good sense to add a real plot in the form of a murder mystery), and of course it's worth noting that Gosford Park was directed by Robert Altman, a filmmaker not noted for excessive fidelity to his screenplays.
Ably directed by series helmer Michael Engler and written by series creator Julian Fellowes, co-writer of the darker 2001 Robert Altman film “Gosford Park,” “Downton Abbey” is Anglophile fan service of a very high order.
Directed by Michael Engler (who has directed multiple episodes of the show) and written by Juliane Fellowes (not only the creator of the sprawling cast of characters, but an Oscar-winning writer in his own right for Gosford Park), it’s clear that reopening the castle doors for a narrative continuation following the series finale (and judging from the ending here, there could be even more to come for dedicated fans) is in suited filmmaking hands.
Julian Fellowes, who came to prominence with the screenplay for one of Robert Altman’s last hurrahs, Gosford Park, has written the screenplay here, extending his footprint for the show that he also created.
The show – created and written by British screenwriter Julian Fellowes – was something of a spinoff of “Gosford Park,” the 2001 Robert Altman feature film for which Fellowes won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.
Given limited time (the events of the film seem much like a season of the show, squashed down to two hours), characters repeat the basic elements of their makeup with occasional highlights of the pieces creator/writer Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park) seems to consider the most important or his favorite or both.
For every Wayne’s World are seemingly dozens of Dark Shadows or The Flintstones.
For every Wayne’s World are seemingly dozens of Dark Shadows or The Flintstones.
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It is a big character piece, in which a tremendous number of cast members both upstairs and downstairs are confronted with little and big life-changing events - it was designed, obviously, as a series finale, though its stunning box office suggest has raised the possibility that this will now become a theatrical franchise, Star Trek-style.
It’s kind of like “The Avengers” for the PBS/Anglophile crowd (I consider myself happily and proudly in both camps).