Fackham Hall – A Brisk, Humorous Downton Abbey Spoof Which Is Delightfully Ephemeral.
Maybe the notion of an ending era pervading: following a long period of inactivity, the parody is staging a return. The past few months witnessed the revival of this playful category, which, in its finest form, skewers the grandiosity of excessively solemn genres with a barrage of exaggerated stereotypes, visual jokes, and dumb-brilliant double entendres.
Playful times, apparently, beget knowingly unserious, laugh-filled, refreshingly shallow fun.
The Newest Addition in This Silly Trend
The newest of these silly send-ups is Fackham Hall, a Downton Abbey spoof that jabs at the easily mockable airs of wealthy English costume epics. The screenplay comes from UK-Irish comic Jimmy Carr and overseen by Jim O'Hanlon, the feature finds ample of inspiration to work with and exploits every bit of it.
Opening on a ridiculous beginning and culminating in a outrageous finale, this amusing silver-spoon romp fills every one of its hour and a half with jokes and bits ranging from the puerile all the way to the truly humorous.
A Send-Up of The Gentry and Staff
Similar to Downton, Fackham Hall delivers a spoof of overly dignified the nobility and excessively servile servants. The plot focuses on the hapless Lord Davenport (portrayed by a wonderfully pretentious Damian Lewis) and his book-averse wife, Lady Davenport (Katherine Waterston). Following the loss of their children in various unfortunate mishaps, their aspirations fall upon marrying off their two girls.
The junior daughter, Poppy (Emma Laird), has achieved the aristocratic objective of a promise to marry the suitable kinsman, Archibald (an impeccably slimy Tom Felton). But when she backs out, the onus shifts to the unmarried elder sister, Rose (Thomasin McKenzie), who is a "dried-up husk already and and possesses unladylike beliefs about women's independence.
Where the Humor Lands Most Effectively
The film achieves greater effect when satirizing the suffocating expectations imposed on Edwardian-era ladies – a topic typically treated for self-serious drama. The archetype of respectable, enviable ladylike behavior offers the most fertile comic targets.
The narrative thread, as is fitting for a purposefully absurd parody, is of lesser importance to the bits. The writer serves them up coming at a consistently comedic rate. There is a homicide, a farcical probe, and a forbidden romance between the roguish thief Eric Noone (Ben Radcliffe) and Rose.
The Constraints of Lighthearted Fun
Everything is in lighthearted fun, however, this approach has limitations. The heightened silliness inherent to parody can wear after a while, and the mileage in this instance runs out in the space between a skit and a full-length film.
Eventually, you might wish to go back to the world of (very slight) coherence. But, it's necessary to respect a wholehearted devotion to this type of comedy. If we're going to amuse ourselves to death, we might as well find the humor in it.
