A Look at Fackham Hall – A Brisk, Funny Parody of Downton Abbey That's Pleasantly Lightweight.
Perhaps the sense of end times in the air: subsequent to a lengthy span of dormancy, the comedic send-up is enjoying a comeback. This summer observed the rebirth of this playful category, which, in its finest form, mocks the self-importance of excessively solemn genre with a flood of heightened tropes, sight gags, and dumb-brilliant double entendres.
Frivolous times, so it goes, create an appetite for self-awarely frivolous, joke-dense, welcome light entertainment.
The Latest Addition in This Absurd Trend
The most recent of these silly send-ups is Fackham Hall, a takeoff on the British period drama that jabs at the highly satirizable pretensions of opulent UK historical series. Co-written by British-Irish comedian Jimmy Carr and directed by Jim O'Hanlon, the movie finds ample of material to work with and uses all of it.
Opening on a absurd opening to a ludicrous finish, this enjoyable aristocratic caper packs all of its hour and a half with gags and sketches running the gamut from the puerile to the truly humorous.
A Pastiche of The Gentry and Staff
In the vein of Downton, Fackham Hall delivers a spoof of very self-important the nobility and overly fawning staff. The story revolves around the incompetent Lord Davenport (brought to life by a wonderfully pretentious Damian Lewis) and his book-averse wife, Lady Davenport (Katherine Waterston). Following the loss of their male heirs in separate calamitous events, their aspirations now rest on marrying off their offspring.
The junior daughter, Poppy (Emma Laird), has achieved the family goal of an engagement to the suitable close relative, Archibald (a wonderfully unctuous Tom Felton). However once she pulls out, the onus transfers to the single elder sister, Rose (Thomasin McKenzie), considered a spinster already and who harbors dangerously modern notions concerning female autonomy.
The Film's Humor Lands Most Effectively
The spoof is significantly more successful when satirizing the stifling expectations placed on Edwardian-era females – a subject often mined for po-faced melodrama. The trope of proper, coveted womanhood offers the richest comic targets.
The plot, as one would expect from a purposefully absurd spoof, is of lesser importance to the jokes. Carr serves them up coming at a pleasantly funny pace. The film features a homicide, a bungled inquiry, and an illicit love affair between the charming street urchin Eric Noone (Ben Radcliffe) and Rose.
The Constraints of Frivolous Amusement
The entire affair is in lighthearted fun, but that very quality comes with constraints. The dialed-up foolishness inherent to parody might grate after a while, and the comic fuel on this particular variety diminishes somewhere between a skit and a full-length film.
After a while, you might wish to retreat to stories with (at least a modicum of) coherence. Nevertheless, one must admire a wholehearted devotion to the artform. In an age where we might to distract ourselves unto oblivion, we might as well see the funny side.
