**CONTAINS SPOILERS**
The Crawley family and their staff return in a heartwarming adventure that exudes the beloved sensation of comfort found only on a return to Downton.
The film opens nicely, on the wedding of Tom and Lucy Branson, at which a series of photographs are taken of the attendees in groups of several. The photographs are a quick, creative and enjoyable reminder of the characters and their relationships with one another for any audience members who may be a bit rusty on their Downton knowledge. From there, the plot divides into two primary threads, each rife with its own subplots, making it easier to keep track of all of the characters and their own activities than it would have been had all of the characters been a part of the same plot like in the first film, wherein fewer characters were allowed to experience their own development.
A portion of the characters travel to the South of France to investigate a villa the Dowager Countess was left by an old flame. This group includes Carson (whose palsy seems have vanished completely), Edith (who is significantly less annoying than in the past, props to her), her husband Bertie, Cora and Robert, Lucy and Tom, Mr. Bates and Maud (whose prescence is a dissapointing under usage of Imelda Staunton). The rest stay at Downton to oversee the making of a film on location at the estate by British Lion Productions. The film-within-a-film stars two new characters, Myrna Dalgleish (or, as I like to call her, Myrna Dogleash, because what is actually up with that surname) played by Laura Haddock, and Guy Dexter, played by Dominic West (who was in a real film called The Gambler). The staff are, for the most part, thrilled to have Hollywood royalty at Downton. The most excited is undoubtedly the ever-annoying Daisy. I will never understand why anyone enjoys her character. I have never had any use for her and although my other least favorite, Edith, has gained a bit more of my favor, the same cannot be said for Daisy. Julian Fellowes, I beg of you, for future installments (in the hopes that there are) less Daisy, more Thomas, PLEASE.
Production Team Blunders
The script is not its strongest, leaving much to be desired in terms of dialogue from everyone, especially the Dowager Countess who is so heavily characterized by her silver tongue. Still, it gets the job done and though it lacks some of the former luster it has possessed, the script does not make anyone seem unlike themselves and makes the world of Downton feel comfortable and familiar as ever.
The most irksome aspect of the film were the choppy cuts. They were frequent, which is completely understandable given the massive amount of characters and storylines that needed to be addressed in succession so that the audience did not forget about or lose interest in them. It was not the volume of the cuts that angered me, but the way in which they were executed. The cuts were unnatural and forced, dislodging me from the story rather than inviting me into it. It seems that no attempt was made at smooth transitions between scenes, that cohesiveness was ignored completely. The poor cuts detracted from my enjoyment of the film, leaving me stuck wondering what untapped potential the film could have possessed had the production team paid more heed to this glaring mistake.
Respectful Relationships
One of my major problems with the first Downton film was the romanticization of anger issues and similar unhealthly mannerisms in the context of a relationship. A New Era makes significant progress in this department.
Jack Barber (played by Hugh Dancy), the director of the aforementioned film-within-a-film,called The Gambler, is not only supervised by Lady Mary Talbot while filming, but also receives crucial advice and assistance from her, without which numerous misfortunes would have come to pass. Mary has proven irresistible to essentially every man she has encountered in the series and Jack is no exception. Rather than act rashly on his feelings for her, he is hesitant to express them openly, as he knows she is married and wishes to be sure that his attraction to her is not one-sided. Once he knows she harbors similar feelings for him, he asks if he can kiss her. Mary says no. This is hands down one of my favorite moments in the film. To see a man ask for consent, a woman confidently turn him down with no shame in doing so, and neither express any resentment toward the other or try to push the subject further is a wonderful and unfortunately under experienced interaction across all media genres and mediums.
Thomas Barrow catches the eye of Guy Dexter and the two form a connection. After a few tentative interactions, Dexter directly seeks out Barrow and invites him to travel the world with him as his partner, under the guise of being his butler. Dexter ensures to inform Thomas that, should he agree to this arrangement, it can mean "as much or as little" as he likes. Seeing a man offer his partner the option to set the pace and express their own desires rather than dominating the relationship and forcibly molding it to his wants is always a welcome event; it is even more so in the context of Thomas, who has deserved a lasting, healthy relationship since episode one and has been deprived of one until now.
Departures and Deaths
The passing of The Dowager Countess, Violet, was sad but not unexpected. I was stunned to see her appear in the trailer for A New Era, expecting the disease she had spoken of to Mary in the previous film to have finished her off before this film began. Such was not the case and the wily woman held on for the duration of the film, though the near-constant conversation of her death made the passing feel imminent. I do wonder if Fellowes did this on purpose, to lessen the emotional blow the audience would feel at losing such an iconic and beloved character.
Cora experiences a cancer scare which serves exactly zero purpose. While viewing the film, I entertained the thought that Fellowes was trying to trick us, that it would be Cora and not Violet who died. Carson's sweltering at the villa had me wondering if he might suffer heat stroke and if he, Cora and Violet would all kick the bucket. Alas, Carson's sweating was only a physical manifestation of his refusal to move on from the past and the discomfort it causes him, Cora's health scare amounted to nothing and turned out to be a waste of screen time and the only death that occurred was the initially expected one.
Violet is not the only one who will be missed at Downton. Thomas Barrow leaves his position as butler to travel as right hand man and secret lover to actor Guy Dexter, and Mr. Molesley embarks on a journey to the world of screenwriting. These events make one ask whether they occurred because the actors have said that should the film series continue they want nothing more to do with it, to make fans less inclined to continue asking for new content since three of their favorites have departed, or to make room for spin-offs. As a die-hard Thomas fan, I sincerely hope it is the latter. It was nice to see Thomas have the ability to be happy, but I want more than that. I want to see him being happy, not just intrigued by the idea of it. I want to see him existing with pleasure and joy for more than a few moments, to experience his relationship grow and develop, the kind of content we have received from all of the other chatacters but him. Through his writing of the series, Fellowes has communicated that he sees Barrow as just as deserving of love as the rest of the cast. It's past time he puts his money where his mouth is and delivers us some queer joy which *gasp* actually did exist in the 1920s and 30s. Not to mention, the desired Barrow spin-off would allow for exploration of ball culture at its peak, something which I would love to see brought to the big screen.
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