Downton Abbey: A New Era

Downton Abbey: A New Era

The Crawley family goes on a grand journey to the south of France to uncover the mystery of the dowager countess's newly inherited villa.

  • Released: 2022-04-27
  • Runtime: 125 minutes
  • Genre: Drama, History, Romance
  • Stars: Hugh Bonneville, Michelle Dockery, Robert James-Collier, Lesley Nicol, Allen Leech, Laura Carmichael, Phyllis Logan, Dominic West, Hugh Dancy, Elizabeth McGovern, Maggie Smith, Joanne Froggatt, Jim Carter, Laura Haddock, Nathalie Baye, Penelope Wilton, Fifi Hart, Jonathan Coy, Samantha Bond, Raquel Cassidy, Brendan Coyle, Kevin Doyle, Michael Fox, Imelda Staunton, Harry Hadden-Paton, Rodrigo Saavedra, Matthew Goode, Tuppence Middleton, Douglas Reith, Oliver Barker, Zac Barker, Eva Samms, Megan Barker, Joanne Frogatt, Sophie McShera, Jeremy Swift, Sue Johnston, Jonathan Zaccaï, Charlie Watson, Archer Robbins, Eva Samms, Karina Samms, Alex McQueen, Paul Copley, Alex MacQueen, David Robb
  • Director: Simon Curtis
 Comments
  • edubarca - 20 February 2024
    Absolutely fantastic, beautiful, entertaining marvelous
    An excellent movie, following the happenings of the Crawley family after the extraordinary TV series. Beautifully shot, really top acting and very entertaining.. I wonder why nobody has realized the homage paid to the famous film "Singin' in the Rain" of 1952.by the producers of Downton Abbey, a New Era. For those too young to remember, the film depicts the beginnings of sound movies with all the funny situations that came out upon adapting the new technology. Downton Abbey, the new era deals with the same issue when sound was introduced to movies in 1927. I am sure that the producers took into account and was inspired by the 1952 movie directed by Stanley Donnen when they wrote the situations of filming a sound movie in Downton Abbey. We are eagerly awaiting the 7th season of Downton Abbey and we are sure it will be a success. Eduardo, from Colombia.
  • Davalon-Davalon - 18 June 2023
    For the fans
    If you are a fan of DA, you will certainly enjoy this. If not, you won't be able to appreciate it on the level that it needs to be appreciated.

    There must be at least 8 stories going on all at once: 1-The silent movie being made at Downton (which will help pay for the leaky roof); 2-The villa in the south of France that was willed to Lady (Violet) Grantham, and the mystery surrounding it that requires Robert and Cora and ensemble to go to the south of France (despite not having enough money to pay for the leaky roof); 3-The ongoing irritation of Daisy and Andy having to live with Farmer Mason; 4-The new romance brewing between Barrows and the impossibly hot Guy Dexter; 5-Violet's impending death (and the constant foreshadowing in case we don't "get" it); 6-Cora's mystery illness; 7-Tom and Lucy's wedding, learning of "Sybbie's" inheritance, and a new child on the way; 8-Mary soldiering on because her husband hasn't been able to return from wherever he was (because in real life the actor was making another movie), and being sorely tempted by the borderline sexy director of the silent movie being filmed at Downton; 9-Robert's questioning of his identity and whether he's a French "bastard" or really the son of his father...

    It goes on and on. Julian Fellowes, master of the DA universe, does his best to parse out the lines so that everyone gets their fair share, not to mention giving each actor tons of reaction shots, so that their agents don't call up and complain.

    A lot of the movie is really just pretty shots of DA, the "villa in southern France," and just amazing period costumes and cars. I mean, you could put this on 24 hours a day on endless loop and just glance at it for fun.

    "A New Era" takes a while to get started, even though things move at an extremely rapid pace. I felt initially the whole "let's make a silent movie at Downton" thing was not going to work, but it eventually does. You have to stick with it.

    Also, perhaps no spoiler, but I'm announcing it here (SPOILER, stop now unless you have watched the movie): Yes, the great and mighty Violet passes on.

    The great thing about the scene is that Julian gave Maggie Smith (Violet) wonderful zingers all the way up to her last breath. She was just astonishingly good, but one could see that she was, in real life, tired. She was finally starting to look like she had had enough of all this nonsense.

    In this regard, I felt her passing was handled beautifully, and also, with the birth of Tom and Lucy's new child (who, spoiler, is actually the real child of Laura Carmichael (Edith), we get a sense that life will go on for the Crawley clan.

    All these story lines were entertaining. But what was sort of shocking was that almost everyone, except Mary and Edith, really started to look their age. Joanna Froggatt ("Anna"), in particular, looked extremely pinched, and her wig seemed ill-fitting. Hugh Bonneville ("Robert") looked almost dangerously thin, and because of the filming schedule, he had already been to the south of France when we start the film at DA, and he was way too tan (and thin). Only Michelle Dockery ("Mary") and Laura Carmichael ("Edith") continue to look the way they did when the story began 13 years ago.

    The larger comment being: I am a die-hard fan of DA, but even so, seeing the actors age out of their parts and look like wax museum versions of their former selves is really kind of sad.

    That said: if you are a fan, you will enjoy every minute of this and the laughs are deep and rich and satisfying.

    I gave this an 8 instead of a 10 because while it may have been 100% true that upper crust British people (like the Crawleys) and their snooty servants (like Mr Carson) may have looked down their noses at "foreigners" (i.e. In this case "the French" -- and, to quote Carson, "Why do the French have to be so... French?"), it seemed sad and insulting to me that "Sybbie" was going to inherit this amazing villa in France, and yet there didn't seem to be a moment of humbleness on part of the Crawleys or their servants. There was definitely acknowledgment of what they were going to receive, but at the same time, it just seemed really odd to me that no one, especially Carson, got any comeuppance.

    At any rate, this is an enjoyable romp for hardcore fans.