Fackham Hall – This Rapid-Fire, Witty Downton Abbey Spoof That's Delightfully Lightweight.
Perhaps the feeling of an ending era in the air: after years of inactivity, the parody is staging a return. This summer witnessed the rebirth of this playful category, which, when done well, mocks the pretensions of pompously earnest genres with a barrage of exaggerated stereotypes, sight gags, and dumb-brilliant double entendres.
Frivolous eras, apparently, create an appetite for self-awarely frivolous, joke-dense, refreshingly shallow fun.
A Recent Entry in This Absurd Trend
The latest of these absurd spoofs is Fackham Hall, a takeoff on the British period drama that needles the highly satirizable pretensions of wealthy English costume epics. Penned in part by British-Irish comedian Jimmy Carr and overseen by Jim O'Hanlon, the movie finds ample of source material to mine and exploits every bit of it.
Opening on a absurd opening and culminating in a outrageous finale, this entertaining upper-class adventure crams all of its runtime with puns and routines ranging from the childish all the way to the authentically hilarious.
A Pastiche of Aristocrats and Servants
In the vein of Downton, Fackham Hall presents a spoof of overly dignified rich people and excessively servile servants. The narrative revolves around the incompetent Lord Davenport (played by a delightfully mannered Damian Lewis) and his literature-hating wife, Lady Davenport (Katherine Waterston). After losing their four sons in separate calamitous events, their plans are pinned on securing unions for their daughters.
One daughter, Poppy (Emma Laird), has achieved the aristocratic objective of betrothal to the suitable close relative, Archibald (an impeccably slimy Tom Felton). However once she backs out, the onus transfers to the unattached elder sister, Rose (Thomasin McKenzie), described as an old maid at 23 and who harbors unladylike beliefs regarding women's independence.
The Film's Humor Lands Most Effectively
The spoof achieves greater effect when joking about the stifling social constraints forced upon early 20th-century ladies – a subject often mined for self-serious drama. The trope of proper, coveted ladylike behavior provides the most fertile comic targets.
The storyline, as is fitting for a deliberately silly spoof, is secondary to the bits. The writer keeps them arriving at a pleasantly funny clip. The film features a killing, an incompetent investigation, and an illicit love affair featuring the roguish street urchin Eric Noone (Ben Radcliffe) and Rose.
Limitations and Frivolous Amusement
The entire affair is for harmless amusement, but that very quality comes with constraints. The dialed-up foolishness inherent to parody might grate over time, and the comic fuel on this particular variety runs out in the space between a skit and a full-length film.
At a certain point, one may desire to go back to the world of (very slight) logic. Yet, you have to respect a sincere commitment to the artform. Given that we are to entertain ourselves to death, let's at least laugh at it.
