Downton Abbey: A New Era 2022

B-

I watched this whole series and the movie, so I was definitely going to watch this as well, but it isn’t always easy. With a giant cast, it is hard to do anything more than flit from one tiny story to the next for most of the characters. In this episode some of the family goes off to the French Riviera while the rest stay at Downton for the filming of a movie. None of it seems very likely and things get less likely as the movie wears on, but it is nice to see the characters, even if they only get a couple of lines in, and you still miss the ones that aren’t there. Meanwhile, the children must be off in a room somewhere because they are rarely seen and seem to require no attention. Also it has been a couple of years since the last movie, so when this movie opens with a wedding, I had to pause immediately and go back to remember why that was happening. The movies are a decent way to keep up with the family, but by trying to keep everyone involved, the stories are smaller or more artificial. They presumably lose a few characters in this movie, so maybe the next movie can work better. Plus the Great Depression is fast approaching if they want to go there.

Written: 19 Jul 2022

Owned on: Digital