Film Review – Downton Abbey: A New Era (2022)

Let’s all go back down the Abbey for tea, shall we? As monolithic as the great Highclere Castle where the series and films are shot, the Downton Abbey story has become one of the biggest and most well-loved franchises (can we call it that, now?) of all time with nearly 12 million people watching the show and the first foray into the cinema world helping it grow even further around the globe. It hasn’t been for everyone, mind you: its stuffy, hammy look at how the well-to-do aristocrats of the Crawley family spend their days drinking lashings of tea, eating the most exhaustive of menus whilst dressed in the most extravagant set of clothes ever seen hasn’t been lost on those who just don’t see the attraction. Then again, such is its success, that many have since been sucked into its tractor beam and seduced by its charms, not least the continued brilliance of Dame Maggie Smith and her effervescent, candescent self. 

Part two of the Downton Abbey Cinematic Universe – branching off from the series – sees it all come full circle in some respects as Tinsel Town is coming to Downton. In need of funds to keep the abbey afloat and the roof from collapsing from water damage, the Crawley’s allow the crew of a Hollywood film – director Jack Barber (Hugh Dancy) and stars Guy Dexter (Dominic West) and Myrna Dalgleish (Laura Haddock) – to use their palatial home to bring their new film to the screen. Meanwhile, our favourite Dowager Countess Crawley (Smith) gets an unexpected letter from suggesting that a former flame from her youth has left her his villa on the South coast without any real explanation. Given her medical ailments, the other half of the family – led by son Robert (Hugh Bonneville) – head across the English Channel to uncover the mystery.

With about as much subtly as a modern-day soap opera but with plentiful more laughs and cordiality, A New Era doesn’t break any new ground in of its scope and storytelling but it’s almost impossible not to be swept up in the world of the Crawley’s and all that it encomes. Dutifully and solidly directed by the safe hands of Simon Curtis (Woman In Gold, Goodbye Christopher Robin), there’s never a dull moment and it moves at a decent pace to keep even the most outlandish of twists or hilarious pieces of dialogue from ever resting too hard on the brain. Just by its sheer nature, it feels clunky – the opening act is as choppy and frenetic as anything. Indeed, while this reviewer is not au fait with all of the deep inner workings down the Abbey, it seems possible that this is ground well-trodden just tarted up with some fresh dresses and sumptuous locations. 

But when such escapades are this much fun – particularly thanks to the ever-brilliant Smith, Phyllis Logan, Sophie McShera, Jim Carter, as well as new addition Haddock, who is a joy – it’s hard to ignore its virtues. And in a world that steps closer and closer to the precipice of doom, there isn’t a more welcome distraction than a pot of loose tea and some cream scones, even if us mere mortals don’t have the appropriate bona china for it.

★★★

Drama | 2022 | Universal Pictures, Focus Features | PG | Dir: Simon Curtis | Maggie Smith, Hugh Bonneville, Michelle Dockery, Elizabeth McGovern, Tuppence Middleton, Allan Leech, Laura Carmichael, Hugh Dancy, Laura Haddock, Dominic West, Jim Carter, Imelda Staunton, Robert James-Collier, Joanne Froggatt, Sophie McShera, Phyllis Logan