Fackham Hall Review – A Rapid-Fire, Witty Parody of Downton Abbey Which Is Refreshingly Throwaway.
Maybe the sense of end times around us: subsequent to a lengthy span of dormancy, the comedic send-up is staging a resurgence. The past few months witnessed the re-emergence of this unserious film style, which, at its best, lampoons the self-importance of excessively solemn dramas with a flood of heightened tropes, physical comedy, and dumb-brilliant double entendres.
Playful periods, apparently, create an appetite for self-awarely frivolous, laugh-filled, welcome light amusement.
A Recent Entry in This Absurd Trend
The most recent of these goofy parodies comes in the form of Fackham Hall, a takeoff on the British period drama that pokes fun at the very pokeable pretensions of opulent English costume epics. The screenplay comes from stand-up performer Jimmy Carr and helmed by Jim O'Hanlon, the movie finds ample of source material to work with and wastes none of it.
Starting with a ridiculous beginning and culminating in a outrageous finale, this enjoyable aristocratic caper fills each of its runtime with puns and routines running the gamut from the puerile to the genuinely funny.
A Send-Up of Aristocrats and Servants
In the vein of Downton, Fackham Hall presents a caricature of very self-important the nobility and overly fawning help. The story revolves around the incompetent Lord Davenport (portrayed by an enjoyably affected Damian Lewis) and his anti-reading wife, Lady Davenport (Katherine Waterston). After losing their four sons in various calamitous events, their aspirations are pinned on securing unions for their two girls.
The junior daughter, Poppy (Emma Laird), has accomplished the aristocratic objective of an engagement to the right first cousin, Archibald (a perfectly smarmy Tom Felton). But after she pulls out, the onus falls upon the single elder sister, Rose (Thomasin McKenzie), described as a "dried-up husk of a woman" and and holds radically progressive notions concerning women's independence.
Where the Comedy Works Best
The film achieves greater effect when sending up the suffocating expectations imposed on pre-war women – a subject frequently explored for po-faced melodrama. The archetype of proper, coveted womanhood supplies the most fertile comic targets.
The storyline, as one would expect from a deliberately silly parody, is of lesser importance to the gags. The writer delivers them coming at a pleasantly funny clip. The film features a homicide, a farcical probe, and a forbidden romance featuring the charming thief Eric Noone (Ben Radcliffe) and Rose.
A Note on Lighthearted Fun
Everything is in lighthearted fun, but that very quality has limitations. The dialed-up absurdity inherent to parody can wear after a while, and the entertainment value for this specific type expires somewhere between sketch and a full-length film.
After a while, you might wish to go back to a realm of (very slight) coherence. Yet, one must applaud a sincere commitment to this type of comedy. If we're going to amuse ourselves to death, we might as well laugh at it.
