The new and final “Downton Abbey” film — oozing in charm and mystery — opens Friday — Thursday in previews — and if it’s not a massive hit, I’d be surprised.
For anyone who watched the series or the first two movies, this is the cherry on top of the sundae. Creator Julian Fellowes and director Simon Curtis have crafted a significant and rewarding ending so good that — like the woman who sat in front of me last night at the premiere — will have you carrying a necessary box of tissues.
Fellowes, who wrote all the seasons of the TV show and the two movies, pulls out all the stops with “The Grand Finale,” which is full of humor and pathos but is also an intimate look at all kinds of families, chosen or natural, as well as the passing of generations.
It’s time, too: “Downton” has been going for 16 years in our culture. In the show, everything begins in April 1912, when the Titanic sank, taking with it the Downton heirs. With them gone, the power and money shifted to another Crawley cousin, Matthew. His arrival — with his mother — changed everything for the Downton family.
Now it’s 1930. The family matriarch, Violet, played so memorably by Maggie Smith is gone. The stock market crash has changed everyone’s fortunes, and it’s no longer reasonable to expect the great castles to keep going in a changed economy.
Fellowes lays it all out in a finely tuned screenplay. He imbues his characters — especially the younger ones — with enough prescience to be aware that their royal life is undergoing a seachange. The discussion now is how Lord and Lady Grantham — Hugh Bonneville and Elizabeth McGovern — will cede their roles at Downton to their daughter, Lady Mary — Michelle Dockery.
Almost all of the “Downton” gang is back (although MIA is Robert’s sister, Rosalind) and Fellowes gives each of them lots of individual moments. We even get a devilish American conman in Alessandro Nivola, who thinks he can seduce the Granthams into giving up their fortune. He comes to town with Paul Giamatti, as Cora’s ne’er do well brother, who’s squandered his own family’s money. The pair nearly steal the show.
Fellowes draws on the show’s rich well of history, too, so there’s even a reference to when Smith’s Countess Dowager first learned the term “week-end.” There are other Easter eggs, too, like the time a Turkish prince was sexed up so much he died in Lady Mary’s bed. There are also clever references to movie making itself, thanks to Mr. Moseley, who has gone from footman to successful screenwriter.
Fellowes, by now, has a PhD in class relations. There’s a wordless scene in which Robert, returning from the Downton farms, passes Mr. Mason, a tenant farmer, on a bridge. Even though they know everyone in common, and once had business, they only very slightly acknowledge each other. The moment, which Fellowes created on purpose, sums up the whole saga.
“The Grand Finale” is sumptuous on every level, from costumes to cinematography. Quite a bit of time is spent recreating London from 1930, which isn’t too hard considering the city still looks the same. The film opens with everyone going to the West End to see a play and the dine at the Ivy. You’ll feel like you were there.
But yes, get out the hankies. The last 20 minutes are full of lump-in-your throat moments that feel organic and signal that this is it, we must say goodbye, knowing everyone will be all right no matter what comes next.
Four stars.
