A Look at Fackham Hall – A Brisk, Witty Takeoff on Downton That's Pleasantly Throwaway.
Maybe the sense of uncertain days in the air: subsequent to a lengthy span of dormancy, the spoof is staging a resurgence. This summer observed the revival of this unserious film style, which, when done well, mocks the self-importance of overly serious dramas with a flood of exaggerated stereotypes, sight gags, and stupid-clever puns.
Unserious times, apparently, give rise to knowingly unserious, gag-packed, pleasantly insubstantial entertainment.
A Recent Entry in This Absurd Wave
The newest of these silly send-ups is Fackham Hall, a parody of Downton Abbey that pokes fun at the easily mockable self-importance of wealthy English costume epics. The screenplay comes from UK-Irish comic Jimmy Carr and overseen by Jim O'Hanlon, the feature finds ample of source material to draw from and wastes none of it.
Opening on a absurd opening all the way to its outrageous finale, this entertaining upper-class adventure packs each of its runtime with gags and sketches that vary from the childish to the authentically hilarious.
A Send-Up of Aristocrats and Servants
Similar to Downton, Fackham Hall offers a spoof of very self-important aristocrats and very obsequious servants. The story centers on the hapless Lord Davenport (portrayed by a wonderfully pretentious Damian Lewis) and his anti-reading wife, Lady Davenport (Katherine Waterston). Having lost their male heirs in a series of calamitous events, their aspirations are pinned on finding matches for their daughters.
The junior daughter, Poppy (Emma Laird), has accomplished the family goal of an engagement to the suitable first cousin, Archibald (a perfectly smarmy Tom Felton). Yet once she pulls out, the burden falls upon the unattached elder sister, Rose (Thomasin McKenzie), who is a "dried-up husk at 23 and who harbors unladylike notions concerning female autonomy.
Its Comedy Lands Most Effectively
The spoof fares much better when sending up the suffocating norms placed on early 20th-century females – a topic frequently explored for po-faced melodrama. The stereotype of idealized womanhood supplies the best material for mockery.
The storyline, as one would expect from a deliberately silly spoof, is secondary to the bits. Carr serves them up coming at a pleasantly funny rate. Included is a murder, a bungled inquiry, and an illicit love affair featuring the charming pickpocket Eric Noone (Ben Radcliffe) and Rose.
A Note on Frivolous Amusement
Everything is for harmless amusement, but that very quality has limitations. The dialed-up foolishness characteristic of the genre might grate over time, and the entertainment value in this instance runs out in the space between a skit and a full-length film.
At a certain point, you might wish to return to the world of (very slight) logic. Nevertheless, one must admire a sincere commitment to this type of comedy. In an age where we might to entertain ourselves unto oblivion, let's at least laugh at it.
