Fackham Hall – A Rapid-Fire, Humorous Parody of Downton Abbey That's Refreshingly Lightweight.
Maybe the notion of end times pervading: subsequent to a lengthy span of quiet, the spoof is staging a resurgence. This summer saw the re-emergence of this playful category, which, at its best, mocks the self-importance of overly serious dramas with a torrent of heightened tropes, physical comedy, and dumb-brilliant double entendres.
Playful periods, apparently, beget self-awarely frivolous, joke-dense, pleasantly insubstantial amusement.
The Latest Entry in This Absurd Resurgence
The most recent of these goofy parodies is Fackham Hall, a Downton Abbey spoof that pokes fun at the easily mockable pretensions of gilded British period dramas. The screenplay comes from British-Irish comedian Jimmy Carr and directed by Jim O'Hanlon, the movie finds ample of source material to work with and wastes none of it.
Starting with a ridiculous beginning and culminating in a preposterous conclusion, this amusing upper-class adventure packs every one of its 97 minutes with jokes and bits running the gamut from the juvenile all the way to the truly humorous.
A Mimicry of The Gentry and Staff
Much like Downton, Fackham Hall offers a pastiche of very self-important rich people and excessively servile help. The narrative revolves around the incompetent Lord Davenport (played by a delightfully mannered Damian Lewis) and his anti-reading wife, Lady Davenport (Katherine Waterston). Following the loss of their male heirs in a series of unfortunate mishaps, their aspirations fall upon finding matches for their daughters.
The junior daughter, Poppy (Emma Laird), has secured the family goal of a promise to marry the suitable kinsman, Archibald (an impeccably slimy Tom Felton). But once she backs out, the burden falls upon the unmarried elder sister, Rose (Thomasin McKenzie), considered a spinster of a woman" and who harbors unladylike beliefs concerning women's independence.
The Film's Comedy Works Best
The spoof achieves greater effect when satirizing the oppressive social constraints placed on pre-war women – an area frequently explored for self-serious drama. The archetype of respectable, enviable femininity offers the most fertile material for mockery.
The narrative thread, as befitting an intentionally ridiculous spoof, is of lesser importance to the gags. Carr delivers them arriving at a consistently comedic clip. The film features a killing, a bungled inquiry, and an illicit love affair featuring the charming thief Eric Noone (Ben Radcliffe) and Rose.
A Note on Pure Silliness
It's all in lighthearted fun, though that itself comes with constraints. The dialed-up foolishness characteristic of the genre can wear over time, and the entertainment value on this particular variety runs out at the intersection of a skit and a full-length film.
After a while, audiences could long to retreat to a realm of (at least a modicum of) coherence. But, one must admire a wholehearted devotion to the artform. In an age where we might to amuse ourselves to death, let's at least find the humor in it.
