A Look at Fackham Hall – A Fast-Paced, Witty Parody of Downton Abbey That's Refreshingly Lightweight.
Maybe the notion of end times around us: subsequent to a lengthy span of inactivity, the comedic send-up is making a resurgence. The recent season observed the re-emergence of this playful category, which, when done well, lampoons the self-importance of excessively solemn genres with a flood of pitched clichés, visual jokes, and dumb-brilliant double entendres.
Frivolous eras, so it goes, create an appetite for knowingly unserious, laugh-filled, pleasantly insubstantial amusement.
The Newest Addition in This Silly Wave
The newest of these goofy parodies is Fackham Hall, a takeoff on the British period drama that pokes fun at the highly satirizable self-importance of opulent English costume epics. Penned in part by stand-up performer Jimmy Carr and directed by Jim O'Hanlon, the film finds ample of inspiration to mine and uses all of it.
From a absurd opening all the way to its preposterous conclusion, this enjoyable silver-spoon romp crams every one of its runtime with puns and routines that vary from the puerile all the way to the genuinely funny.
A Pastiche of Upstairs, Downstairs
In the vein of Downton, Fackham Hall presents a pastiche of extremely pompous the nobility and overly fawning servants. The plot centers on the hapless Lord Davenport (played by a delightfully mannered Damian Lewis) and his anti-reading wife, Lady Davenport (Katherine Waterston). Following the loss of their male heirs in separate tragic accidents, their hopes are pinned on marrying off their offspring.
The junior daughter, Poppy (Emma Laird), has secured the family goal of a promise to marry the appropriate kinsman, Archibald (a wonderfully unctuous Tom Felton). Yet when she backs out, the pressure transfers to the unattached elder sister, Rose (Thomasin McKenzie), described as a spinster of a woman" and and possesses dangerously modern beliefs concerning women's independence.
The Film's Humor Succeeds
The film achieves greater effect when satirizing the oppressive social constraints placed on early 20th-century ladies – an area often mined for po-faced melodrama. The trope of idealized femininity supplies the best material for mockery.
The plot, as one would expect from an intentionally ridiculous parody, is secondary to the gags. The co-writer keeps them maintaining a consistently comedic clip. There is a killing, an incompetent investigation, and an illicit love affair between the roguish thief Eric Noone (Ben Radcliffe) and Rose.
A Note on Lighthearted Fun
The entire affair is in the spirit of playful comedy, though that itself comes with constraints. The heightened foolishness characteristic of the genre can wear quickly, and the comic fuel in this instance runs out at the intersection of a skit and a full-length film.
After a while, audiences could long to return to a realm of (at least a modicum of) logic. Yet, you have to respect a genuine dedication to this type of comedy. If we're going to distract ourselves unto oblivion, it's preferable to laugh at it.
