Downton Abbey has bewitched the world over six series with its celebration of a bygone world and Britishisms – and this farewell feature is a fond one, loaded with everything one would expect from such an undertaking. By now we’re in 1930 and the clothes are slinkier, the morals looser and times a-changing. The toffs of Downton are facing financial tightness, the Wall Street crash is wreaking US havoc, social stratas are softening and unbeknownst to anyone, World War II is gestating.
In this between-wars moment Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) causes controversy when she attends a London party as a divorced woman (and of course, wearing a stunning red dress), the Earl and Countess of Grantham (Hugh Bonneville and Elizabeth McGovern) are contemplating moving into the granny flat recently vacated by the late Dowager Countess Crawley (the late Maggie Smith), and Noël Coward (Arty Froushan) and Uncle Harold (Paul Giamatti) turn up with money woes and lessons in acceptance. Goodbyes are the order of the day; below-stairs Mr Carson (Jim Carter) and Mrs Patmore (Lesley Nicol) are retiring and their send-off allows for audiences to process their own letting go of all the characters.
As reliably cosy as the cup of steaming tea served in the library, The Grande Finale ticks all the Downton tropes as it bows out. Society snobbery (at a Mayfair ball and the local agriculture show), a spiffing day out at the races with fabulous period fashions, the servants being sweet on their masters, the aristocrats being the ‘nice’ kind, a huge dinner party causing chaos in the kitchen and, in a button-pushing finale, the ghosts of beloved characters being given their flowers under the gimlet eye of Maggie Smith’s portrait hanging in the main hall. There’s no particular drama (aside from a bit of sauce from Alessandro Nivola’s bounder American visitor) and the silver still gets polished while people sigh about giving up the London town house. Those who have not been along for the ride might wonder about the attraction, but die-hard fans will get their tweed-and-pearls fix.
Words by JANE CROWTHER
Photography courtesy of FOCUS FEATURES
Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale is in cinemas now
