Fackham Hall – A Fast-Paced, Witty Takeoff on Downton That's Delightfully Ephemeral.
Maybe the sense of end times in the air: subsequent to a lengthy span of inactivity, the parody is enjoying a resurgence. This summer saw the re-emergence of this lighthearted genre, which, when done well, lampoons the pretensions of pompously earnest dramas with a barrage of heightened tropes, sight gags, and ridiculously smart wordplay.
Playful times, so it goes, give rise to deliberately shallow, joke-dense, pleasantly insubstantial entertainment.
The Latest Entry in This Silly Trend
The most recent of these silly send-ups is Fackham Hall, a Downton Abbey spoof that jabs at the very pokeable self-importance of gilded British period dramas. Co-written by UK-Irish comic Jimmy Carr and overseen by Jim O'Hanlon, the movie finds ample of material to work with and wastes none of it.
Opening on a ridiculous beginning and culminating in a outrageous finale, this enjoyable upper-class adventure fills every one of its hour and a half with gags and sketches ranging from the childish to the authentically hilarious.
A Pastiche of The Gentry and Staff
In the vein of Downton, Fackham Hall presents a pastiche of very self-important rich people and overly fawning servants. The plot focuses on the incompetent Lord Davenport (brought to life by an enjoyably affected Damian Lewis) and his anti-reading wife, Lady Davenport (Katherine Waterston). Following the loss of their four sons in a series of tragic accidents, their plans are pinned on marrying off their daughters.
One daughter, Poppy (Emma Laird), has achieved the dynastic aim of a promise to marry the appropriate first cousin, Archibald (a wonderfully unctuous Tom Felton). Yet after she pulls out, the onus transfers to the single elder sister, Rose (Thomasin McKenzie), considered a "dried-up husk already and and possesses dangerously modern ideas concerning women's independence.
Its Comedy Lands Most Effectively
The spoof achieves greater effect when sending up the stifling norms imposed on Edwardian-era women – an area frequently explored for po-faced melodrama. The trope of idealized femininity provides the most fertile material for mockery.
The plot, as is fitting for a deliberately silly send-up, is secondary to the bits. The writer keeps them maintaining a consistently comedic clip. The film features a murder, an incompetent investigation, and a forbidden romance featuring the roguish street urchin Eric Noone (Ben Radcliffe) and Rose.
The Constraints of Lighthearted Fun
The entire affair is in lighthearted fun, though that itself imposes restrictions. The heightened silliness of a spoof may tire quickly, and the mileage for this specific type runs out at the intersection of sketch and a full-length film.
After a while, audiences could long to return to stories with (very slight) coherence. But, you have to respect a wholehearted devotion to this type of comedy. If we're going to amuse ourselves relentlessly, it's preferable to laugh at it.