Somewhat late to the party I saw The Grand Finale this morning and was glad I only spent (wasted?) £5 on a Silver Screen ticket.
I’ve just finished binge- watching my way through the entire series as a warm up and was shocked at how the actors seem to have aged- “Tom Brandon” and “Barrow” a lot heavier, “Cora” (Elizabeth McGovern still simpering, quite gaunt and haggard.
The script was heavy handed, cumbersome, as subtle as a brick with all the topical “references” - yes, we’d twigged it was 1930 or whatever, and totally obsessed with the theme of retirement/all change/ the decline of the grand houses/gay references ( I think if you didn’t know about Noel Coward you must have spent the last 100 years incommunicado in an Amazonian jungle) and of course divorce presaged by references to the Prince of Wales..
As I said, subtle as a brick.
And the acting - much of which came across as a parody of the characters we have come to know…perhaps what was originally designed for the small screen did not translate to the wider one, but it was frequently ponderous and affected.
Edith and Bertie just about got away with it and the dresses were simply gorgeous, but other than that it was definitely a nail in the Downton Abbey coffin.
With luck, Julian Fellowes will recognise that the time to stop flogging that dead horse was long overdue.
