Fackham Hall – A Fast-Paced, Witty Takeoff on Downton Which Is Pleasantly Lightweight.
It could be the sense of uncertain days around us: following a long period of quiet, the comedic send-up is making a resurgence. The recent season observed the revival of this playful category, which, in its finest form, skewers the self-importance of pompously earnest genres with a flood of heightened tropes, visual jokes, and dumb-brilliant double entendres.
Frivolous times, apparently, create an appetite for self-awarely frivolous, gag-packed, welcome light entertainment.
The Latest Offering in This Goofy Trend
The latest of these absurd spoofs is Fackham Hall, a parody of Downton Abbey that jabs at the very pokeable self-importance of wealthy UK historical series. The screenplay comes from UK-Irish comic Jimmy Carr and helmed by Jim O'Hanlon, the film has plenty of inspiration to draw from and uses all of it.
From a absurd opening and culminating in a ludicrous finish, this enjoyable upper-class adventure crams every one of its hour and a half with jokes and bits ranging from the puerile to the authentically hilarious.
A Pastiche of The Gentry and Staff
Similar to Downton, Fackham Hall offers a spoof of overly dignified the nobility and excessively servile help. The narrative revolves around the feckless Lord Davenport (played by a delightfully mannered Damian Lewis) and his book-averse wife, Lady Davenport (Katherine Waterston). After losing their four sons in various unfortunate mishaps, their aspirations are pinned on finding matches for their daughters.
The junior daughter, Poppy (Emma Laird), has secured the aristocratic objective of an engagement to the suitable kinsman, Archibald (a perfectly smarmy Tom Felton). However once she withdraws, the pressure transfers to the unattached elder sister, Rose (Thomasin McKenzie), considered a spinster already and who harbors radically progressive beliefs concerning female autonomy.
Where the Comedy Lands Most Effectively
The film fares much better when satirizing the stifling norms placed on early 20th-century ladies – an area typically treated for earnest storytelling. The stereotype of proper, coveted womanhood provides the best comic targets.
The storyline, as is fitting for a deliberately silly spoof, is of lesser importance to the bits. The co-writer delivers them arriving at a consistently comedic rate. The film features a homicide, an incompetent investigation, and a forbidden romance involving the plucky street urchin Eric Noone (Ben Radcliffe) and Rose.
A Note on Pure Silliness
It's all in the spirit of playful comedy, though that itself comes with constraints. The amplified absurdity inherent to parody might grate over time, and the comic fuel on this particular variety diminishes at the intersection of a skit and feature.
At a certain point, one may desire to return to a realm of (very slight) reason. Yet, you have to admire a wholehearted devotion to this type of comedy. If we're going to entertain ourselves unto oblivion, it's preferable to laugh at it.
