Fackham Hall – A Brisk, Funny Downton Abbey Spoof Which Is Pleasantly Ephemeral.
It could be the feeling of an ending era around us: subsequent to a lengthy span of dormancy, the parody is staging a return. The past few months saw the re-emergence of this unserious film style, which, in its finest form, mocks the pretensions of pompously earnest dramas with a torrent of heightened tropes, physical comedy, and stupid-clever puns.
Playful eras, apparently, give rise to knowingly unserious, joke-dense, refreshingly shallow entertainment.
A Recent Entry in This Absurd Wave
The newest of these absurd spoofs arrives as Fackham Hall, a takeoff on the British period drama that pokes fun at the highly satirizable pretensions of wealthy English costume epics. Co-written by British-Irish comedian Jimmy Carr and overseen by Jim O'Hanlon, the feature has plenty of material to draw from and exploits every bit of it.
Opening on a ridiculous beginning all the way to its ludicrous finish, this amusing upper-class adventure fills every one of its 97 minutes with puns and routines that vary from the childish all the way to the genuinely funny.
A Pastiche of Upstairs, Downstairs
Much like Downton, Fackham Hall offers a spoof of overly dignified aristocrats and very obsequious help. The story centers on the feckless Lord Davenport (portrayed by a wonderfully pretentious Damian Lewis) and his anti-reading wife, Lady Davenport (Katherine Waterston). Following the loss of their four sons in a series of tragic accidents, their aspirations fall upon finding matches for their two girls.
The junior daughter, Poppy (Emma Laird), has secured the family goal of a promise to marry the suitable first cousin, Archibald (an impeccably slimy Tom Felton). However once she backs out, the onus transfers to the unmarried elder sister, Rose (Thomasin McKenzie), described as a "dried-up husk at 23 and and possesses unladylike beliefs concerning female autonomy.
Where the Laughs Works Best
The film achieves greater effect when satirizing the stifling expectations placed on pre-war females – an area typically treated for earnest storytelling. The archetype of respectable, enviable femininity offers the best material for mockery.
The narrative thread, as one would expect from an intentionally ridiculous parody, takes a back seat to the bits. Carr keeps them maintaining an amiably humorous clip. The film features a homicide, an incompetent investigation, and a forbidden romance involving the charming street urchin Eric Noone (Ben Radcliffe) and Rose.
The Constraints of Lighthearted Fun
It's all for harmless amusement, though that itself comes with constraints. The heightened absurdity characteristic of the genre may tire after a while, and the comic fuel for this specific type diminishes in the space between sketch and a full-length film.
After a while, audiences could long to return to stories with (at least a modicum of) logic. But, one must applaud a genuine dedication to the artform. In an age where we might to amuse ourselves unto oblivion, it's preferable to see the funny side.
