The Grand Finale is a farewell steeped in palpable grief, following the real-life loss of Dame Maggie Smith. Her character, the Dowager Countess Violet Crawley, whose sharp wit was the series’ purest pleasure, has also passed away. Her portrait now hangs reverently in the hall, her sparkling gaze watching over Downton.
Death brings change to the estate, with financial matters requiring attention after the passing of Cora’s mother in America. This prompts the return of Cora’s brother, Harold (Paul Giamatti), who brings unwelcome news and a charismatic compatriot, Gus Sambrook (Alessandro Nivola).
Sambrook’s presence seems primarily for the benefit of Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery), whose storyline contends with another significant absence. Her second husband, Henry Talbot, played by Matthew Goode, has been officially written out of the story via divorce. Creator Julian Fellowes’s script skillfully uses this off-screen adjustment to inject some much-needed drama. In one scene, Mary is hastily ushered out of a host’s home when the royal family arrives, as sharing a room with a divorcée in 1930 remains a significant taboo.
Structurally, the film feels like two television episodes combined. The first hour focuses on the flirtation between Sambrook and Mary, highlighted by a trip to Ascot where the cast showcases Anna Robbins’s beautiful, era-appropriate costume designs. Giamatti and Nivola inject a welcome burst of energy, capturing the fond bemusement of Americans in the Old World. After their departure, the film abruptly shifts its focus to a party for Noël Coward.
Despite its disjointed structure, the narrative finds surprising moments of self-reflection. Set between the Wall Street crash and the Second World War, the film carries an undercurrent of tension. While the staff, including Mr. Carson (Jim Carter) and Daisy (Sophie McShera), remain devoted to the upstairs-downstairs divide, the word “socialism” is whispered with increasing frequency. The realization that the decline of the aristocracy cannot be kept outside Downton’s gates forever appears to be dawning on Robert (Hugh Bonneville).
“The system doesn’t work if people hold on too long,” Tom (Allen Leech) warns him. It is a poignant piece of advice. Given that this is the third film presented as the show’s definitive conclusion, one hopes Downton Abbey heeds it. This is as graceful and fitting an endnote as the franchise could hope for.
Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale is in cinemas from 12 September.
