Fackham Hall – This Fast-Paced, Funny Parody of Downton Abbey That's Refreshingly Throwaway.
Perhaps the notion of an ending era around us: after years of quiet, the spoof is staging a return. This summer saw the rebirth of this playful category, which, in its finest form, skewers the grandiosity of excessively solemn genres with a barrage of exaggerated stereotypes, physical comedy, and ridiculously smart wordplay.
Unserious times, it seems, give rise to self-awarely frivolous, laugh-filled, refreshingly shallow entertainment.
The Newest Addition in This Silly Resurgence
The most recent of these absurd spoofs is Fackham Hall, a takeoff on the British period drama that jabs at the highly satirizable self-importance of gilded UK historical series. The screenplay comes from UK-Irish comic Jimmy Carr and overseen by Jim O'Hanlon, the feature finds ample of source material to draw from and wastes none of it.
Opening on a ludicrous start and culminating in a preposterous conclusion, this enjoyable silver-spoon romp packs every one of its runtime with puns and routines running the gamut from the puerile to the genuinely funny.
A Send-Up of The Gentry and Staff
In the vein of Downton, Fackham Hall presents a pastiche of very self-important the nobility and excessively servile help. The story revolves around the feckless Lord Davenport (portrayed by a delightfully mannered Damian Lewis) and his book-averse wife, Lady Davenport (Katherine Waterston). Following the loss of their children in separate tragic accidents, their plans now rest on securing unions for their offspring.
The junior daughter, Poppy (Emma Laird), has achieved the aristocratic objective of betrothal to the suitable first cousin, Archibald (a perfectly smarmy Tom Felton). Yet once she pulls out, the pressure falls upon the unattached elder sister, Rose (Thomasin McKenzie), described as an old maid at 23 and and holds dangerously modern beliefs concerning female autonomy.
The Film's Comedy Succeeds
The spoof achieves greater effect when joking about the oppressive expectations placed on pre-war ladies – an area typically treated for self-serious drama. The stereotype of respectable, enviable womanhood supplies the best comic targets.
The storyline, as befitting a deliberately silly spoof, is of lesser importance to the bits. Carr keeps them arriving at an amiably humorous pace. Included is a murder, a bungled inquiry, and an illicit love affair involving the plucky pickpocket Eric Noone (Ben Radcliffe) and Rose.
The Constraints of Lighthearted Fun
The entire affair is in the spirit of playful comedy, but that very quality has limitations. The amplified foolishness characteristic of the genre can wear over time, and the entertainment value on this particular variety runs out in the space between sketch and a full-length film.
Eventually, you might wish to return to stories with (at least a modicum of) reason. But, one must applaud a wholehearted devotion to this type of comedy. In an age where we might to entertain ourselves to death, it's preferable to laugh at it.
