Downton Abbey: The New Era (2022)

Elevator Pitch: Downton Abbey (played by Highclere Castle), a vast edifice, sits foursquare in the middle of its grounds allowing events to revolve round it. In this case the events are firstly the fact that an Italian count has left a villa in the South of France to Lady Violet, the result of them spending time together in 1865 casting some doubt as to the parentage of the Earl of Grantham and secondly a film company has requested permission to make a film in the house for which they will pay a large sum, allowing the roof to be repaired. The earl and his hangers on go off to France leaving Lady Mary in charge of the film company. She and the director get on well and her husband is away. How will it all end?

Content: There is no sex or nudity but quite a bit of social drinking and a bit of smoking. Tom the former chauffeur marries one of the sisters. The toffs learn about the villa in France and some of them get into the motors and go on the journey. Meanwhile the film company establishes itself in the mansion. We are on the cusp of the talkies and a silent film is being made. When production is halted due to lack of sound, Lady Mary convinces the director that they can continue with the right technology. The female star is not posh enough. Many scenes with Lady Mary doing the voice over. In the villa there are social events and some discord.

A View: I should say to start with that we saw the previous outing on a Saturday and every single seat at the screening was taken. In this case we saw the very first showing in Madrid on Friday with about half a dozen ladies. They laughed a lot and some clapped at the end of the show. If I’m honest I couldn’t remember exactly who most of the characters were, and the script didn’t help, relying on us to know. We were irritated by the cloying sweetness of the plot, where everything worked out so well. Even the widow of the count who had a case for owning the villa, had several other properties. There is more, but I won’t weary you with them. So only a film for the fans.

Other films featuring toffs reviewed on this site include the earlier Downton Abbey, The Duchess and Marie Antoinette .