A Look at Fackham Hall – This Brisk, Humorous Parody of Downton Abbey That's Delightfully Ephemeral.
It could be the feeling of an ending era in the air: after years of inactivity, the parody is staging a return. The recent season witnessed the rebirth of this lighthearted genre, which, in its finest form, mocks the pretensions of overly serious dramas with a barrage of heightened tropes, sight gags, and stupid-clever puns.
Unserious times, so it goes, give rise to self-awarely frivolous, laugh-filled, welcome light entertainment.
A Recent Entry in This Absurd Resurgence
The latest of these silly send-ups is Fackham Hall, a parody of Downton Abbey that needles the highly satirizable pretensions of gilded British period dramas. The screenplay comes from UK-Irish comic Jimmy Carr and overseen by Jim O'Hanlon, the movie has plenty of source material to work with and wastes none of it.
Starting with a ridiculous beginning all the way to its outrageous finale, this amusing upper-class adventure crams each of its runtime with jokes and bits running the gamut from the juvenile to the truly humorous.
A Mimicry of Aristocrats and Servants
Much like Downton, Fackham Hall delivers a spoof of overly dignified aristocrats and excessively servile servants. The narrative centers on the incompetent Lord Davenport (brought to life by an enjoyably affected Damian Lewis) and his anti-reading wife, Lady Davenport (Katherine Waterston). After losing their children in separate calamitous events, their plans are pinned on marrying off their offspring.
The junior daughter, Poppy (Emma Laird), has achieved the dynastic aim of betrothal to the right first cousin, Archibald (a perfectly smarmy Tom Felton). Yet when she withdraws, the burden falls upon the unattached elder sister, Rose (Thomasin McKenzie), described as a "dried-up husk already and who harbors unladylike ideas regarding female autonomy.
Its Humor Works Best
The parody achieves greater effect when sending up the oppressive expectations imposed on Edwardian-era females – a subject often mined for po-faced melodrama. The trope of idealized ladylike behavior provides the most fertile punching bags.
The narrative thread, as befitting a deliberately silly send-up, is secondary to the gags. The co-writer serves them up maintaining a consistently comedic pace. Included is a homicide, a farcical probe, and a forbidden romance involving the charming thief Eric Noone (Ben Radcliffe) and Rose.
A Note on Pure Silliness
The entire affair is in the spirit of playful comedy, but that very quality comes with constraints. The heightened absurdity inherent to parody might grate over time, and the entertainment value on this particular variety expires somewhere between a skit and a full-length film.
After a while, you might wish to retreat to a realm of (at least a modicum of) reason. But, it's necessary to admire a sincere commitment to the craft. If we're going to amuse ourselves relentlessly, we might as well find the humor in it.
