A Look at Fackham Hall – This Brisk, Funny Parody of Downton Abbey Which Is Delightfully Ephemeral.
It could be the sense of uncertain days around us: following a long period of quiet, the spoof is enjoying a comeback. This summer observed the revival of this playful category, which, at its best, mocks the self-importance of pompously earnest dramas with a torrent of heightened tropes, sight gags, and dumb-brilliant double entendres.
Unserious periods, apparently, give rise to deliberately shallow, joke-dense, refreshingly shallow fun.
The Latest Entry in This Goofy Wave
The newest of these absurd spoofs is Fackham Hall, a Downton Abbey spoof that pokes fun at the very pokeable pretensions of wealthy British period dramas. Co-written by UK-Irish comic Jimmy Carr and helmed by Jim O'Hanlon, the film has a wealth of material to draw from and wastes none of it.
From a ridiculous beginning to a outrageous finale, this entertaining silver-spoon romp crams each of its runtime with puns and routines running the gamut from the puerile to the truly humorous.
A Pastiche of Upstairs, Downstairs
Similar to Downton, Fackham Hall offers a pastiche of very self-important rich people and excessively servile servants. The narrative centers on the incompetent Lord Davenport (played by an enjoyably affected Damian Lewis) and his literature-hating wife, Lady Davenport (Katherine Waterston). Having lost their children in a series of tragic accidents, their hopes fall upon securing unions for their daughters.
The junior daughter, Poppy (Emma Laird), has secured the dynastic aim of a promise to marry the appropriate kinsman, Archibald (a wonderfully unctuous Tom Felton). However when she withdraws, the onus shifts to the unattached elder sister, Rose (Thomasin McKenzie), described as a spinster of a woman" and who harbors unladylike beliefs regarding female autonomy.
The Film's Humor Lands Most Effectively
The parody is significantly more successful when satirizing the oppressive social constraints placed on Edwardian-era women – a topic often mined for po-faced melodrama. The trope of proper, coveted femininity offers the most fertile punching bags.
The narrative thread, as befitting a purposefully absurd send-up, is of lesser importance to the jokes. The co-writer delivers them maintaining a pleasantly funny pace. There is a killing, a farcical probe, and a forbidden romance featuring the charming pickpocket Eric Noone (Ben Radcliffe) and Rose.
A Note on Lighthearted Fun
It's all in lighthearted fun, but that very quality has limitations. The heightened silliness characteristic of the genre may tire quickly, and the mileage on this particular variety runs out somewhere between a skit and feature.
At a certain point, one may desire to retreat to the world of (at least a modicum of) logic. Yet, one must admire a wholehearted devotion to the artform. Given that we are to distract ourselves to death, we might as well laugh at it.
