Interwar elegance makes a comeback as screenwriter Julian
Fellowes takes his popular ITV and PBS television series to the big screen
under the direction of Michael Engler. A 1927 visit to the stately home of the
title by King George V (Simon Jones) and Queen Mary (Geraldine James) revives a
long-simmering family dispute with a cousin (Imelda Staunton) who is one of the
queen's ladies-in-waiting and who intends to displace the estate's patriarch
(Hugh Bonneville), her closest male relative, as her heir, much to the chagrin
of his iron-willed mother (Maggie Smith). The clan's former
chauffer-turned-widowed-son-in-law's (Allen Leech) Irish Republican sympathies
are scrutinized by a mysterious stranger (Stephen Campbell-Moore) while
downstairs excitement among the servants (led by Jim Carter and Phyllis Logan)
turns to consternation when they discover that the royal family travels with
its own staff, all of whom turn out to be insufferably arrogant. Fellows keeps
his ensemble waltzing in perfect time and the result will be catnip to fans of
the franchise. A strong message about marital and familial loyalty and the
reconciliation of quarreling spouses is somewhat offset by the sympathetic
treatment of a same-sex-attracted butler's (Robert James-Collier) search for
love. But beyond implicitly deploring the harassment to which homosexuals were
subjected at the time, the film has no particular axe to grind. Still, though
secondary, this subplot makes the glossy costume drama strictly grown-up fare.
Watch out for: A
romantically viewed homosexual relationship, scenes in an improvised gay bar, a
couple of same-sex kisses.
Rated: A-III, adults; MPAA:
PG
© Arlington Catholic Herald 2019