Downton Abbey – A New Era (2022), directed by Simon Curtis

Starting with a wedding and ending with a funeral, the second spin-off film of the beloved TV series is mostly about the costumes and glorious settings. The Dowager Lady Grantham has discovered she owns a villa in the south of France, following the death of an old flame. She is putting her affairs in order and decides to leave the villa to Sybil, the only great-grandchild unprovided for. Half the extended Crawley family travels to France to check it out, while Lady Mary allows a film crew to take over Downton Abbey for a month to finance roof repairs. So we see two dramas play out, with Lord Grantham questioning his origins in France while the advent of talking pictures puts careers at risk in England. This film has more plot than the first one, but there are a lot of happy endings and new opportunities, except for the obvious, in a way that is a little overdone. It is a pity Matthew Goode couldn’t make even a day’s filming, as while the absence of Lady Mary’s husband is covered well for the most of the film, his non-appearance at the end is a glaring problem. Overall it is a film just for the fans, with Maggie Smith getting all the best lines as is her due.