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MOVIES
A Downton Abbey that
fills the big screen
By Stephanie Zacharek
As A person who hAs seen bArely A flicker of
Downton Abbey on television, I can’t predict whether the
movie spin-off—directed by Michael Engler and written
by the show’s creator, Julian Fellowes—will be everything
longtime fans have hoped for. But as a one-off, it’s a feath-
erweight delight, like the prettiest pink-and-white cake on
the tea tray.
It’s 1927, and the denizens of Downton are in a tizzy:
King George and Queen Mary are planning a trip through
Yorkshire, and they’ll be stopping off for one night at the
estate. They’re bringing all their own servants, which up-
sets the Downton staff, presided over by the ever-sensible
Mr. Carson and Mrs. Hughes (Jim Carter and Phyllis Logan).
But the impending visit sets off china-rattling reverberations
throughout the rest of the household, too: Lady Mary Talbot
(Michelle Dockery), now in charge of managing the house,
worries that everything will go wrong, and Lady Edith (Laura
Carmichael), now happily married, has her own unexpected
development to contend with. Meanwhile, peppery Dowager
Countess Violet Crawley (Maggie Smith) squares off against
a long-lost and equally stubborn relative, Lady Bagshaw
(Imelda Staunton); sweet, dithery Isobel Grey (Penelope
Wilton) ends up running interference.
Intrigue, romantic travails and plain old stress rule the
day, both upstairs and downstairs, and Fellowes and Engler
keep all the gears running smoothly. But come now—you
really came here to find out about the gowns and the jew-
els, didn’t you? Liquid-velvet day dresses in period-perfect
shades of burnt coral and tobacco, ropes of Venetian glass
beads in undersea-fantasia colors, a faintworthy deep-blue
Fortuny pleated evening gown: the costumes, by Anna Rob-
bins, are spectacular. You wouldn’t really want to be a mem-
ber of the aristocracy—it’s a lot of bother. But gazing at these
lives from afar is a gentle pleasure, and one you shouldn’t feel
guilty about.
Carmichael, Elizabeth McGovern and Dockery return for a
new chapter in their popular period drama
WHERE’S MY ROY COHN?: SONY CLASSICS; AD ASTRA: 20TH CENTURY FOX; DOWNTON ABBEY: FOCUS FEATURES
LAURIE METCALF &
ADOPTED DOG BUCKY, FOR
PHOTO: MIKE RUIZ • HAIR: CHRISTOPHER MARRERO • MAKEUP: MARIKO ARAI
