Fackham Hall – This Rapid-Fire, Witty Takeoff on Downton That's Pleasantly Ephemeral.
It could be the sense of an ending era pervading: following a long period of dormancy, the spoof is staging a return. The past few months observed the re-emergence of this lighthearted genre, which, when done well, skewers the pretensions of pompously earnest genre with a barrage of pitched clichés, sight gags, and stupid-clever puns.
Playful times, apparently, give rise to deliberately shallow, joke-dense, refreshingly shallow amusement.
The Latest Offering in This Absurd Wave
The most recent of these goofy parodies arrives as Fackham Hall, a takeoff on the British period drama that jabs at the very pokeable self-importance of wealthy UK historical series. Co-written by British-Irish comedian Jimmy Carr and overseen by Jim O'Hanlon, the movie has plenty of source material to mine and uses all of it.
From a absurd opening all the way to its outrageous finale, this entertaining upper-class adventure fills every one of its hour and a half with jokes and bits running the gamut from the puerile up to the genuinely funny.
A Mimicry of The Gentry and Staff
Much like Downton, Fackham Hall delivers a pastiche of overly dignified the nobility and very obsequious help. The plot revolves around the hapless Lord Davenport (played by an enjoyably affected Damian Lewis) and his literature-hating wife, Lady Davenport (Katherine Waterston). Following the loss of their four sons in various unfortunate mishaps, their aspirations now rest on securing unions for their offspring.
The younger daughter, Poppy (Emma Laird), has secured the aristocratic objective of a promise to marry the appropriate first cousin, Archibald (a wonderfully unctuous Tom Felton). Yet after she withdraws, the onus falls upon the unattached elder sister, Rose (Thomasin McKenzie), who is an old maid of a woman" and and holds unladylike beliefs regarding women's independence.
The Film's Laughs Works Best
The film fares much better when joking about the suffocating norms forced upon Edwardian-era women – a topic frequently explored for po-faced melodrama. The stereotype of idealized ladylike behavior supplies the richest punching bags.
The storyline, as befitting a purposefully absurd parody, takes a back seat to the jokes. The writer serves them up coming at a consistently comedic clip. Included is a homicide, an incompetent investigation, and an illicit love affair between the plucky thief Eric Noone (Ben Radcliffe) and Rose.
The Constraints of Lighthearted Fun
Everything is for harmless amusement, however, this approach has limitations. The dialed-up silliness inherent to parody might grate over time, and the mileage for this specific type expires somewhere between a skit and a full-length film.
After a while, audiences could long to go back to stories with (very slight) logic. Nevertheless, you have to applaud a sincere commitment to this type of comedy. Given that we are to amuse ourselves relentlessly, we might as well laugh at it.
