Fackham Hall Review – This Fast-Paced, Funny Downton Abbey Spoof Which Is Delightfully Ephemeral.
Maybe the feeling of uncertain days pervading: after years of inactivity, the parody is enjoying a comeback. The recent season saw the rebirth of this lighthearted genre, which, in its finest form, lampoons the grandiosity of pompously earnest genres with a torrent of pitched clichés, sight gags, and dumb-brilliant double entendres.
Playful periods, it seems, beget self-awarely frivolous, laugh-filled, welcome light amusement.
A Recent Entry in This Absurd Trend
The most recent of these goofy parodies arrives as Fackham Hall, a takeoff on the British period drama that jabs at the highly satirizable self-importance of opulent UK historical series. Penned in part by UK-Irish comic Jimmy Carr and overseen by Jim O'Hanlon, the film has a wealth of material to draw from and exploits every bit of it.
Starting with a ridiculous beginning and culminating in a outrageous finale, this enjoyable upper-class adventure fills every one of its 97 minutes with puns and routines ranging from the juvenile up to the genuinely funny.
A Mimicry of Upstairs, Downstairs
In the vein of Downton, Fackham Hall delivers a pastiche of extremely pompous the nobility and overly fawning servants. The story revolves around the feckless Lord Davenport (portrayed by a delightfully mannered Damian Lewis) and his anti-reading wife, Lady Davenport (Katherine Waterston). After losing their children in a series of unfortunate mishaps, their aspirations are pinned on finding matches for their offspring.
One daughter, Poppy (Emma Laird), has secured the dynastic aim of betrothal to the suitable first cousin, Archibald (a wonderfully unctuous Tom Felton). However after she withdraws, the pressure transfers to the unattached elder sister, Rose (Thomasin McKenzie), described as a spinster already and who harbors unladylike ideas regarding female autonomy.
Where the Laughs Works Best
The parody fares much better when satirizing the stifling norms imposed on pre-war ladies – an area often mined for self-serious drama. The trope of respectable, enviable ladylike behavior offers the best comic targets.
The storyline, as one would expect from a purposefully absurd send-up, is of lesser importance to the bits. Carr keeps them arriving at a pleasantly funny pace. The film features a killing, a farcical probe, and a star-crossed attraction between the plucky thief Eric Noone (Ben Radcliffe) and Rose.
Limitations and Frivolous Amusement
Everything is in the spirit of playful comedy, though that itself has limitations. The dialed-up foolishness inherent to parody may tire over time, and the comic fuel on this particular variety expires somewhere between sketch and feature.
At a certain point, one may desire to return to a realm of (very slight) logic. Yet, it's necessary to applaud a wholehearted devotion to the artform. If we're going to amuse ourselves to death, it's preferable to laugh at it.
