THE STORY – The Crawley family and their staff have entered the 1930s. When Lady Mary finds herself at the centre of a public scandal caused by her divorce and the family faces financial trouble, the entire household grapples with the threat of social disgrace. The Crawleys must embrace change as the staff prepare for a new chapter with the next generation leading Downton Abbey into the future.
THE CAST – Simon Russell Beale, Hugh Bonneville, Laura Carmichael, Jim Carter, Raquel Cassidy, Brendan Coyle, Michelle Dockery, Kevin Doyle, Joanne Froggat, Arty Froushan, Paul Giamatti, Allen Leech, Phyllis Logan, Elizabeth McGovern, Sophie McShera, Lesley Nicol, Alessandro Nivola & Penelope Wilton
THE TEAM – Simon Curtis (Director) & Julian Fellowes (Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 124 Minutes
The “eat the rich” sentiment in popular culture has grown exponentially since “Downton Abbey” ended its television run in 2015, which makes its continued existence in 2020s cinema somewhat strange. Writer Julian Fellowes has always loved his rich upstairs characters just as much as their poor downstairs counterparts, if not more. However, the main story of “Downton Abbey” has always been about the slow decline of the British aristocratic class as the world changes around them at the turn of the twentieth century, making it perhaps uniquely suited to meet the present moment. Considering our current lack of an even slightly benevolent upper class, and an older generation desperate to maintain control instead of letting the next generation lead the way into the future, maybe the Granthams are the ideal fictional rich people to show us a way forward. Fellowes certainly seems to think so, bringing his series to a close with a “Grand Finale” that finally sees the beloved denizens of Downton truly grapple with the inevitable end of their time in the sun. As is Fellowes’s wont, they do so with the utmost grace, laying out a template for the present-day upper crust to follow, should they be selfless enough to follow Lord and Lady Grantham’s example.
It is now the 1930s, and the Downton crew is enjoying the London season, taking in new Noel Coward entertainments and attending fancy dress parties at the city homes of the country’s elite. Things hit a snag when news of Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery)’s divorce from her racecar-loving husband hits the papers, though. No one can afford to be seen with a divorced woman in their company, and on top of that, the family fortune has dwindled to the point where they might have to give up their townhouse in London. The family’s money troubles don’t stop there, as matriarch Cora (Elizabeth Montgomery)’s American brother, Harold (Paul Giamatti), visits with his new business partner, Gus Sambrook (Alessandro Nivola), who only needs a few more investors to get the profit Harold requires to recoup his own business losses. Meanwhile, Downton’s annual county fair is once again approaching, and the ever-progressive Isobel (Penelope Wilton) finds herself at odds with the other event leader, the old stick-in-the-mud Sir Hector Moreland (Simon Russell Beale). To that end, she ropes in the supposedly retired Carson (Jim Carter) and the flourishing Daisy (Sophie McShera) to help her change the event for the better.
As per usual with “Downton Abbey,” the stakes could hardly be lower for most of these storylines. A county fair having a designated spot for lost children – one of Isobel’s crazy newfangled ideas – is such a no-brainer that it’s obviously only a matter of time before the harrumphing Sir Hector gets put in his place. Mary may have a tough time in society in the immediate wake of her divorce, but from the vantage point of 2025, we know that won’t last for long, and Mary has survived such shame before, anyway. The smarmy Sambrook’s shady business is the only plot element that pushes the characters at all, and even that wraps up with typically Fellowesian ease despite being presented as an insurmountable problem for the majority of the film. Much of the charm of “Downton” has always come from these ridiculous rich-people problems and the economical, clever solutions Fellowes comes up with to solve them, usually through the actions of the downstairs servants, and that stays true here, especially given Fellowes’s way with a tossed-off, cheer-worthy one-liner.
The other significant contributors to “Downton Abbey”’s charm, of course, are the unfailingly gorgeous production and costume design, which once again shine on the big screen. The tony interiors of the London townhouses introduce some new design elements to the world, and seeing more of Carson & Mrs. Hughes and Anna & Mr. Bates at home offers lovely insight into their lives outside the walls of Downton. Costume designer Anna Robbins has outdone herself, not just with the fabulous-as-ever eveningwear, but with the jaw-droppingly beautiful ensembles for a scene at Ascot. Far from rehashing her work on the series and in the previous films, Robbins has embraced a more modern aesthetic that shows where the world is heading, even if our heroes are a little behind.
Speaking of being a little behind, we finally come to the Earl of Grantham (Hugh Bonneville) himself. One of the more annoying aspects of Fellowes’s storytelling on “Downton” has been his inability to allow Robert to truly relinquish his position as head of the estate to Mary, his eldest child. Every time he would seem to have done so, Fellowes would backtrack, essentially relegating both Robert and Mary to a perpetual state of limbo, having the same fights over and over again. If that’s what audiences had to endure to get to this heartfelt, hard-earned ending, then perhaps it was all worth it. Fellowes finally allows Robert the space to truly reflect on his place in both society and his own family in a way that he never has before. The result feels perfectly attuned to the current cultural moment, when the older generation is continually slamming the door in the face of all those younger, hoarding their wealth and power for themselves. Robert has always had a strong sense of noblesse oblige, believing that it was part of his family’s duty to provide for those less fortunate, to a point. In this way, the Crawleys have always been a sort of model for how rich people should act, and the constant reminders of this throughout “The Grand Finale” feel aimed squarely at the upper classes whom Fellowes knows will see this film. If even the obstinate Robert can see when it’s time to truly give up the ghost and let the next generation take over, Fellowes seems to be saying, why can’t you?
That “The Grand Finale” works not just as an admittedly sweet polemic, but as a tribute to the franchise as a whole, is a testament to not just Fellowes’s skill as a storyteller and writer of dialogue, but to the immensely lovable cast. All the returning cast members are a delight to see in these roles again, and it feels just as sad to see them go now as it did when the series ended almost a decade ago. The “Downton” cast has always been one of the most finely-tuned ensembles on television, and Fellowes has done a remarkable job giving every cast member at least one moment to shine in each of the three films he’s written. It’s genuinely impressive how almost every character in the nearly twenty-strong main cast gets a lovely little button on their series arc in addition to a moment for them to flex their acting muscles. Fellowes’s dialogue has a little extra sparkle to it this time, and the cast responds in kind; everyone knew this was finally the end of the story, the very last time these characters will grace our screens in something new, and the extra effort does not go unnoticed. Even the actors who get saddled with subpar material, notably poor Kevin Doyle as the hapless former footman Molesley, make such valiant efforts to make their nonsensical or embarrassing character beats work that they manage to emerge with the character’s dignity intact, alongside their own. The new cast members slide in seamlessly, most notably the hilariously haughty Beale and Arty Froushan as a wonderfully witty Noël Coward.
Ending a television series is hard enough. Turning that series into a cinematic franchise and ending it again is much harder. With an assist from returning director Simon Curtis, who knows how to keep things moving while still feeling stately, Fellowes has managed to bring his most significant creation to a most satisfying conclusion. That it’s more or less the exact ending you would have expected after the first series isn’t a bug; it’s a feature. “Downton Abbey” has never been much more than a high-minded soap opera, taking the oldest tropes in the book and filtering them through the aesthetics of a classy period drama. It’s comfort food of the highest order, so pleasant and undemanding that it can feel frivolous even when it’s trying to be serious, and sometimes even vice versa. “The Grand Finale” continues in its mostly unchallenging mode. Still, when it reaches the last act, Fellowes makes an appeal to the present day that feels so hopeful that you might just leave the theater thinking that a better, brighter, kinder future really is just around the corner. These days, that’s more than just nice – it’s a bloody miracle. Long live “Downton Abbey,” indeed.
