Fackham Hall – This Rapid-Fire, Humorous Downton Abbey Spoof That's Refreshingly Lightweight.
Perhaps the sense of uncertain days around us: following a long period of dormancy, the spoof is making a resurgence. The recent season saw the re-emergence of this lighthearted genre, which, at its best, mocks the pretensions of overly serious genre with a torrent of heightened tropes, sight gags, and ridiculously smart wordplay.
Frivolous periods, apparently, give rise to deliberately shallow, laugh-filled, refreshingly shallow amusement.
A Recent Addition in This Goofy Resurgence
The newest of these goofy parodies is Fackham Hall, a parody of Downton Abbey that needles the highly satirizable airs of opulent English costume epics. Co-written by British-Irish comedian Jimmy Carr and helmed by Jim O'Hanlon, the film has a wealth of inspiration to work with and uses all of it.
Opening on a ludicrous start all the way to its preposterous conclusion, this enjoyable silver-spoon romp packs each of its hour and a half with gags and sketches running the gamut from the childish up to the genuinely funny.
A Mimicry of Aristocrats and Servants
Much like Downton, Fackham Hall presents a spoof of extremely pompous aristocrats and very obsequious servants. The narrative centers on the feckless Lord Davenport (portrayed by a delightfully mannered Damian Lewis) and his literature-hating wife, Lady Davenport (Katherine Waterston). Having lost their male heirs in a series of unfortunate mishaps, their plans now rest on finding matches for their daughters.
The younger daughter, Poppy (Emma Laird), has accomplished the family goal of an engagement to the appropriate close relative, Archibald (an impeccably slimy Tom Felton). Yet after she backs out, the pressure transfers to the single elder sister, Rose (Thomasin McKenzie), considered a "dried-up husk at 23 and who harbors unladylike beliefs regarding a woman's own mind.
Its Humor Works Best
The spoof fares much better when sending up the stifling social constraints placed on pre-war women – a subject typically treated for self-serious drama. The archetype of proper, coveted femininity supplies the best material for mockery.
The plot, as befitting a deliberately silly send-up, is of lesser importance to the jokes. The writer serves them up arriving at a consistently comedic pace. The film features a killing, a farcical probe, and a forbidden romance featuring the charming thief Eric Noone (Ben Radcliffe) and Rose.
A Note on Pure Silliness
Everything is for harmless amusement, however, this approach has limitations. The heightened absurdity of a spoof might grate after a while, and the mileage for this specific type expires at the intersection of a skit and feature.
At a certain point, audiences could long to retreat to stories with (very slight) coherence. Nevertheless, it's necessary to admire a wholehearted devotion to the craft. Given that we are to amuse ourselves to death, we might as well see the funny side.
