Fackham Hall – A Brisk, Funny Takeoff on Downton Which Is Pleasantly Lightweight.
Maybe the notion of uncertain days around us: subsequent to a lengthy span of quiet, the parody is making a comeback. This summer saw the re-emergence of this unserious film style, which, at its best, mocks the self-importance of overly serious genres with a flood of exaggerated stereotypes, physical comedy, and dumb-brilliant double entendres.
Unserious periods, apparently, give rise to deliberately shallow, gag-packed, pleasantly insubstantial entertainment.
A Recent Offering in This Absurd Wave
The newest of these absurd spoofs comes in the form of Fackham Hall, a takeoff on the British period drama that needles the highly satirizable airs of opulent British period dramas. The screenplay comes from stand-up performer Jimmy Carr and overseen by Jim O'Hanlon, the film has a wealth of material to mine and exploits every bit of it.
From a ridiculous beginning and culminating in a preposterous conclusion, this amusing upper-class adventure packs each of its hour and a half with puns and routines that vary from the puerile to the genuinely funny.
A Mimicry of Aristocrats and Servants
Much like Downton, Fackham Hall delivers a spoof of extremely pompous aristocrats and very obsequious help. The story centers on the feckless Lord Davenport (brought to life by a wonderfully pretentious Damian Lewis) and his anti-reading wife, Lady Davenport (Katherine Waterston). Having lost their children in separate calamitous events, their aspirations are pinned on securing unions for their daughters.
The younger daughter, Poppy (Emma Laird), has achieved the aristocratic objective of a promise to marry the appropriate kinsman, Archibald (a wonderfully unctuous Tom Felton). However once she withdraws, the burden falls upon the single elder sister, Rose (Thomasin McKenzie), considered a spinster at 23 and and possesses radically progressive notions regarding a woman's own mind.
Its Humor Succeeds
The parody achieves greater effect when joking about the stifling social constraints placed on Edwardian-era females – a subject frequently explored for self-serious drama. The stereotype of proper, coveted ladylike behavior supplies the most fertile material for mockery.
The plot, as is fitting for a deliberately silly parody, takes a back seat to the gags. Carr delivers them coming at an amiably humorous rate. The film features a homicide, an incompetent investigation, and an illicit love affair between the roguish street urchin Eric Noone (Ben Radcliffe) and Rose.
Limitations and Frivolous Amusement
It's all for harmless amusement, but that very quality has limitations. The dialed-up absurdity of a spoof may tire over time, and the mileage on this particular variety runs out somewhere between a skit and a full-length film.
At a certain point, audiences could long to retreat to a realm of (at least a modicum of) coherence. But, one must respect a sincere commitment to this type of comedy. Given that we are to distract ourselves to death, let's at least laugh at it.
