Flasz On Film

Synopsis: The Crawley family faces scandal, financial peril, and shifting family roles as Mary’s divorce, a scheming investor, and questions of succession threaten Downton’s legacy—ultimately uniting them in a renewed trust in Mary’s leadership. 

Fifteen years on, the time has finally come to bid farewell to Downton Abbey, the longstanding chamber drama that has glued pensioners and educated middle-aged women (I did ask ChatGPT to confirm this, by the way; do not shoot the messenger) to their TV screens for years. With six seasons of television programming and now three standalone movies released theatrically, the series carries a cultural heft that I don’t think Robert Altman was aware of when he was signing up to collaborate with the eventual series creator, Julian Fellowes, to direct Gosford Park, a distant protoplast of the show that introduced for the most part the upstairs-downstairs dynamic while deconstructing the canonical whodunnit with mixed results.  

But all good things must come to an end and so I was asked to accompany my own personal adult human female to see Downton Abbey – The Grand Finale. If you asked me, I don’t think I’d have gone myself, an unchaperoned male, after walking into a screening of Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret solo to a flurry of discombobulated looks coming from the exclusively female-packed auditorium. But now that I have, I might as well borrow a line from Carl Bernstein and wonder if I can squeeze out a piece of writing out of this experience. And I’m not too sure if this is possible either but the meta-commentary alone is going to provide some padding. So maybe there’s eight hundred words to share on the subject after all. Here goes.

I sat there and swatted away most of my wife’s attempts to explain what’s going on in this movie because I think I remember most of the characters and can broadly contextualize what’s on offer even though I tapped out years ago having watched a handful of seasons; the last thing I remembered was that Dan Stevens’s character died at some point. Also, I thought it would have constituted a neat little experiment in accessibility. If I could piece what’s going on without too much ado, being a near-complete Downton ignoramus—you might wish to call me a dunce-ton if that flies your kite—it would mean that this final instalment in the long-running touchstone of middle-class TV is after all a broad church. And it is to a point.  

As I was saying, I sat there as a sole carrier of the Y-chromosome and marveled at the emotional chokehold in which this film kept all my co-watchers, as they laughed, grinned, shed tears and cheered. I did no such thing but then again—this movie is not for me, now is it!? What I did wonder, however, was whether it was even appropriate for Downton Abbey – The Grand Finale to exist as a theatrical experience, especially since the entire movie, start to finish, played exactly the way a double episode of the TV show would have. There’s nothing in it that demands theatrical exhibition. No set pieces. No high stakes. No elevated drama. It’s exactly what you’d expect from the regular sit-down with Downton Abbey. Mary does stuff. His Lordship cannot move on with the times. Americans show up to ruin the day. Small-time scandals ensue at a local fair. Roll credits.  

The only reason for this movie to be projected on the big screen is for those last ten seconds of the running time in which the filmmakers pay their respects to the recently departed Dame Maggie Smith, whose snark and wit had been one of the absolute highlights of the series throughout the years. Plus, maybe seeing Hugh Bonneville move out of his massive house is also mildly cinematic. But being perfectly honest, this could just as well have been aired on television on a Sunday night, and it would have been just fine.  

Maybe, on second thought, there’s another reason for Downton Abbey – The Grand Finale to be screened theatrically and that’s just a point of common sense and care for the elderly. After all, it provides a good opportunity for its prime viewership to leave the house and go out into the world for a little while. And we all know how important it is to stay active in your later years. Asking your gran to put her shoes on and clock in some steps is an important part of ensuring she’d go on to live healthily for many years to come and if that’s what it takes to ensure our pensioners get their cardio workouts done, so be it.  

But really, unless you’re a big fan of the show who lives and breathes Downton Abbey trivia and/or you think it would be cool for your kids to refer to you as “ma-MAH” or “pa-PAH,” this final chapter in the saga might not be for you. It’s one of those experiences—it’s perfectly accessible to someone who hasn’t paid too much attention to it over the years, but equally it’s not the best use of their time either. I did, however, make sure that my own personal female companion had a great time, because she’s nuts for this (and if they ever make a movie out of The Crown, I’m pretty sure I’d end up dragged to see it too) and I think that’s just what good husbands do: take one for the team and pay no mind to pensioner hecklers asking them if they’re lost.