{"id":53746,"date":"2025-09-09T10:54:39","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T14:54:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.filmbuffonline.com\/FBOLNewsreel\/wordpress\/?p=53746"},"modified":"2026-03-22T23:14:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T03:14:06","slug":"review-downton-abbey-the-grand-finale-brings-down-the-curtain-in-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.filmbuffonline.com\/FBOLNewsreel\/wordpress\/2025\/09\/09\/review-downton-abbey-the-grand-finale-brings-down-the-curtain-in-style\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: DOWNTON ABBEY: THE GRAND FINALE Brings Down The Curtain In Style"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Downton<\/a>Fittingly enough, Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale<\/strong> pretty much opens with an image of a curtain coming down on a stage play performance. This latest installment has been promoted as the last hurrah for the Downton franchise, and an air of finality, both real and threatened, textual and metatextual, certainly hangs over the events depicted herein. And as befitting the aristocratic Crawley family whose lives the show and subsequent films depicted, this final act brings a number of character’s stories to a close, with requisite happy endings.<\/p>\n

Downton Abbey is at its best when it mines its drama from the intersection of tradition and creeping modernity. The series has always been very much a nostalgic, romanticized look back at the prim and proper ways of the British aristocracy and how they are very much being dragged into the societal changes of the early decades of the Twentieth Century. And this final installment is no different.<\/p>\n

The film’s main two storylines both center on the Crawley family fortunes and what the future may bring. The arrival of their American cousin (Paul Giamatti) brings news of a downturn in the Crawley family fortunes, and that threatens their ownership of their beloved Downton Abbey. This news comes on the heels of the announcement of daughter Mary’s divorce, something the upper classes just don’t do. Will the family be able to continue to afford to keep their Yorkshire country estate and even if they can, will polite society still deign interact with them despite Mary’s divorce?<\/p>\n

All of the main Downton cast of characters are back for this final bow. And the script works hard to give them, and their respective relationships with each other a few moments to shine. As befitting a finale, some are retiring from their positions, some moving on to new ventures, some coming into roles they were destined for in life. But the overall story of this group of people – both upstairs and downstairs as it were – has come to an end. There is one slightly mawkish note in the movie’s last few moments that feels more fan service than anything else, but even that off-tone note doesn’t much diminish the overall honestly earned emotional impact the film has been building towards.<\/p>\n

\"Downton<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The saga of the aristocratic Crawley family comes to a close.<\/div>\n

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