For a number of fans of Downton Abbey, which I would include myself among, the previous film, Downton Abbey: The Movies felt as uninspired as the title. The series, if one had remained loyal to the end, had accomplished it’s goals and then some with the final episodes of the final series. Lady Mary, played by the wonderful actress Michelle Dockery (who has gone on to do more interesting work in recent years) had grown from selfish, spoiled young woman to a rather independent wife and mother. While her final act of cruelty towards her sister Edith (the perpetually under utilized Laura Carmichael) was close to unforgivable (spilling the beans that she had a child out of wedlock to prevent her marrying above Mary’s social ranking), it ultimately closed the series long rivalry of the two women. Mary was secured her beloved estate, Edith was happily married, Tom (Allen Leach) would remain in England (not America), and Mary’s mother-in-law Isobel finally found happiness after the death of her son when she remarried. The family could at last retire in their manor with a new dog to love. 

Even downstairs things seemed to be wrapping up…long suffering Anna had her child, Barrow retired as Butler to manage in Carson’s huge footsteps. Even Carson, Mrs. Hughes, and Mrs. Patmore, the senior members of staff were happily moving on to their own homes (Carson and Hughes even marrying). But there were two beloved characters whose happiness were always kept just beyond reach for audience. 

Mr. Mosley and Baxter were arguably two of the warmest characters the show would ever bring to screen. Mr. Mosley, played brilliantly from season 1 by Kevin Doyle, was often asked to play scenes of idiocy, but thanks to his performance, never made Mosley an idiot. He was naive in his loyalty to the way of life, a moment that spoke so much of his character when he explained to Matthew as valet that he took pride in his work because it was his work. His brief moments of pride were often hammered down by Julian Fellows (who seemed to grow in his own affections for Mosley over the years) as something a man of his status needed to control in the family’s presence (not to mention Carson’s who often seemed to have a distaste for Mosley). It would be easy to believe that Doyle’s lovely, nuanced performance of the initially underwritten Mosley inspired the increasing focus on his story. But nothing benefitted Mosley’s character more than when he found his match with Lady’s Maid Baxter, played with exquisite beauty by Raquel Cassidy. For 3 seasons the slowly growing friendship to romance was a masterclass in how a show can use actors chemistry to build story. Had Doyle and Cassidy not played off each other with such ease it would be hard to imagine Fellows developing such a story. Yet because it started to bloom early, it felt that much stronger when after three years that spark of romance was finally allowed to burn.

In Downtown Abbey: The Movie they continued that slow burn but once again it remained in the background, with Tom’s sudden romance of an heiress (Tupence Middleton). And likewise this film begins with that marriage, courtship be damned after so many years of courtship on the show. In fact for a show which could draw things out (and first film that dragged), A New Era is surprisingly well-paced. The marriage opens the movie and re-introduces the characters. Immediately we’re told that matriarch Lady Violet has inherited a villa in the south of France, despite it coming from a man she spent just a week with before her son was born, and herself being on her deathbed (odd that such a potential loophole is never looked into). Wanting to give the villa to Tom’s daughter Sybie because she hasn’t her own estate (there are big logic issues with this but ignore them) she sends her son Robert and wife Cora, who bring Tom and Lucy and Edith and husband Bertie (the unbelievably charming Harry Hadden-Paton, who seems incapable of not enjoying himself regardless of the size of the role). In France they meet the widow Montmirali (French film legend Nathalie Baye) and her son Jonathan Zaccai (a perfect fit in the Downton universe). While well-execute the wet noodle mystery is not much more than we would have seen in one of the Downton Abbey Holiday specials which aired between seasons. The sweetest moment is between servants Carson, Bates, and Baxter, who finally speaks of the love she has for Mosley, and her decision to remain a spinster rather than find another man who will propose.

But the reason the movie works as well as it does (even if it never breaks free of it’s TV roots) is the storyline back at Downton. A silent film is to be made there (to pay for the roof repairs), which shows the generational split between old (who find it unbecoming) and the young (who are excited to see how movies are to be made). And Mosley delight and pure excitement of seeing movies come to Downton is a brilliant, meta moment for them to indulge in. Hollywood, the movies, the stories told in pictures, he knows are important to him…they offer this son of a poor farmer, raised to believe in service a dream, a window into another life. The movie is packed with meta moments not just about the film industry but specific to Downton Abbey. The fact that the family will allow cameras in feels like a joke regarding the tours the house where Downton is filmed (where there are living owners) still operate. To hear people like screen legend Maggie Smith speak of how undignified movies are is hilarious after her decades of work in the undignified industry. Even the casting of Dominic West as a British actor living in Hollywood is funny considering the number of fans of his TV work which may still be unaware he is in fact British (but so good at that American accent). 

Laura Haddock deserves plenty of props for her role as Myrna, as she has the challenging role of playing a role which could so easily be compared to Jean Hagan’s classic Lena character in Singin’ in the Rain). Cockney rather than Bronx accent yet beautiful when silent, Haddock shows a range of humor, pathos, and eccentricities in a role which is small considering the the range they ask of her. The conclusion of her story is a bit quick, but very enjoyable non-the-less. Likewise, the decision to have a scene of the staff play extras in the last scene of the silent film would feel gimmicky if it didn’t offer so much in the meta connection the fictional film crew has to the home. The crew of a film creates the world the actors can play within, just as the staff create an maintained the home for the family to play in. A scene of them playing dress up as wealthy men and women, in a space they weren’t allowed to sit in, is a lovely way to end the series. And just as the melodrama of the family often happened, so it does for the staff. Barrow finally finds his leading man (literally with West’s character), Miss Pattmore commits to Kindly Mr. Mason, and Mosley and Baxter finally find their happiness.

After their long courtship (multiple couples have met and married within this time) to give these two such a warm, romantic moment is a gift to fans, a deserving send off of the character and series. Mosley, as he says when spelling out his plans for a well written screenplay, loves grand romance. And a romantic at heart asks for Baxter’s hand in marriage the moment he’s offered a well paying job as a screenwriter. Like a fairytale, Baxter is dressed in a gown when she is finally given her proposal and even suggests he fully act out the proposal by falling to one knee. She wants the spectical, the ritual, and performance. And despite the brief moment, Doyle and Cassidy’s joyful performances make it one of the most romantic scenes of the series. A private moment, performed intimately and honestly, but overheard by an audience (the staff and family) who have invested in this relationship as onlookers. And like audiences, they applaud because of emotion excitement they share with being part of it.

Yes the film end on a sad note but a sad not that was guaranteed from the start of the film and predicted by the title A New Era. Downton as audiences no it has to be over. Chronologically the stock market crash is months away, half their staff live outside the house or have recently quit to pursue new opportunities and happy relationships. And the home has been put to ceulloid print. It is a new era of film stars, celebrities, and bright young things. Gossip once contained among a class will now be on the kind of tabloids Edith writes. Scandals won’t remain within those walls, and Downton will have to open to the public to survive, as the real home did and as the within the film foreshadows so brilliantly.