The Reel Review
From a scandalous divorce to growing financial uncertainty, the Crawley family must cope with a rapidly changing start of the Modern Age in 1930 England. Michelle Dockery, Hugh Bonneville, Elizabeth McGovern and Laura Carmichael star in this third and final film in the wildly popular period drama franchise.
The film starts with a newly-divorced Mary facing social ostracism, two staff members facing retirement, and Cora’s brother (Paul Giamatti) arriving with a mysterious American investor (Alessandro Nivola) bearing grim financial news for the family. The clever weaving of playwright Noël Coward (a wonderfully droll Arty Froushan) into the story is a fun touch, as is seeing the cook Daisy (Sophie McShera) become more confident and assertive both in the kitchen and within the local community.
There is a markedly more somber tone in this third film, because the story truly is winding down. But even so, creator Julian Fellowes, reuniting with Downton Abbey: A New Era director Simon Curtis (who also is Elizabeth McGovern’s husband), again sticks the landing with a sprinkling of poignant moments for each of his beloved characters, gorgeous cinematography and costuming, and a bittersweet finale that will almost certainly choke you up and make you shed a tear or two.
REEL FACTS
• Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes says after six seasons and two films, he wanted to wrap the 15-year saga of the Crawley family prior to the events of WWII with a proper, hopeful goodbye for all of the characters.
• As referenced in the film, Noël Coward’s 1930 hit play Private Lives is about a divorced couple that finds themselves honeymooning in the same hotel with their new partners.
• Michelle Dockery revealed at the Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale premiere that she and husband Jasper Waller-Bridge (younger brother of Fleabag creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge) are expecting their first child.
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