Downton Abbey: a new era, started as a mini-series and went up to six seasons. Consequently, they made two movies, A New Era being one of those. The movie is set in 1928, a year after the previous film.
What is Downton Abbey?
Downton Abbey is a British period drama television series created by Julian Fellowes.
The series, set in the fictional Yorkshire country estate of Downton Abbey between 1912 and 1926, depicts the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants.
The series first aired on ITV in the United Kingdom on 26 September 2010 and in the United States on PBS on 9 January 2011, as part of Masterpiece Classic. It became the most-watched television series in the world by 2012.
In 2017, it was ranked as the second-most watched show on British television, behind only Doctor Who.
Downton Abbey has been acclaimed by viewers and critics alike and has won numerous awards, including a Golden Globe Award for Best Miniseries or Television Film and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries or Movie.
The series has also spawned several books and other media adaptations.
About Downton Abbey: A New Era
Downton Abbey: A New Era is a highly anticipated film that picks up where the popular television series left off. The film follows the story of the Crawley family and their servants navigating life’s challenges in the early 20th century.
While the television series was set in the years leading up to World War I, the film is set in the 1930s, a time of significant change and upheaval.
In 1928, Tom Branson, the Earl of Grantham’s widowed son-in-law, married Lucy Smith, the illegitimate daughter of and sole heir to Lady Maud Bagshaw.
Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess of Grantham, astonishes the family by revealing that long ago, she was gifted a villa in the South of France by the Marquis de Montmirail, who has recently passed away.
She is leaving it to her great-granddaughter, Sybbie, Tom’s daughter with the late Lady Sybil Crawley, to ensure that she has a more equal social and financial standing to her cousins.
A film production company wants to use Downton to shoot a silent film called “The Gambler.”
Robert declines until his eldest daughter and estate manager, Lady Mary Talbot, convinces him that the fee would be enough to replace Downton’s leaking roof.
The household staff are eager to see the film stars, but lead actress, Myrna Dalgliesh’s haughtiness, offends them.
That’s the setting of the story. I won’t spoil it, but as always, the show has social commentary on the time changes and modernity. Think of Sunset Boulevard or Singing in the Rain conflicts added to Downton Abbey.
My thoughts and where to stream it
I love period dramas; I fell in love with them watching James Ivory’s The Remains of the Day, starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson.
I remember watching the movie and being completely obsessed with British ways, customs and the monarchy to this day.
The associations with a bygone era are so intoxicating and provide a welcome escape from the mundane reality of life. It is a kind of storytelling where nothing happens, but everything happens, something like Chekojv’s Uncle Vanya or The Cherry Tree.
The association may happen because all the problems that every character faces are inside their emotions, and they don’t express them.
We fall in love with all the characters from upstairs and downstairs; we have cared about them almost for ten years. It is like we were living life with them.
There have been marriages, betrayals, newborns and deaths.
If you’ve never watched the series, you will understand the plot but may not connect with the characters, so I recommend watching the series before watching the movies.
If you are a fan of the film and missed it in the theatres, now is the time for you to catch up with it; you’ll be excited to know that this movie is now available to stream rent based on AppleTV in Canada and Peacock in the USA.
While much has changed since we last saw them—including Lord Crawling’s weight loss and orangy tan—some things remain the same: Lady Mary’s knack for getting herself into being the head of the family.
So sit back, relax, and enjoy your trip back to Downton Abbey and the South of France while they are literally making a movie in Dowton Abbey.
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