FACKHAM HALL Reviewed by GREG KING
Director: Jim O’Hanlon
Stars: Thomasin McKenzie, Ben Radcliffe, Damian Lewis, Katherine Waterston, Emma Laird, Tom Felton, Jason Done, Jimmy Carr, Tim Goodman-Hill, Hayley Mills, Anna Maxwell Martin, Sue Johnston, Tim McMullan, Lee Boardman, Charlie Rawes, Lily Knight, Adam Woodward, Nathan Hall, Erin Austen, Lizzie Hopley, Paula Wharton.
England 1931. The period between the two wars saw the English aristocracy still clinging to their wealth, prestige, privilege and power. For over four centuries the Davenport family has resided at stately Fackham Hall. The family motto, emblazoned above the entry gate is “Incestus ad infinitum.”
But now patriarch Lord Humphrey Davenport (Damien Lewis, from Wolf Hall, etc) frets that he has no male heirs in which to carry on the family tradition and run Fackham Hall. His four sons – named John, Paul, George and Ringo – all perished in some of the most tragic accidents of the early twentieth century, and their names are just one example of the many humourous pop culture references liberally littered throughout the film.
Youngest daughter Poppy (Emma Laird) is set to marry obnoxious and chauvinistic cousin Archibald (Tom Felton, of Harry Potter fame). But on the day of the wedding she runs off with a local peddler, leaving the ceremony in tatters.
With no male heirs, the family may lose control of Fackham Hall, unless oldest daughter Rose (Thomasin McKenzie, from Shortland Street, etc) can be persuaded to marry Archibald instead. But Rose is attracted to Eric Noone (Ben Radcliffe, from the 2022 miniseries Anatomy Of A Scandal, etc), the poor orphan boy and pickpocket who arrives at Fackham Hall to deliver a letter and who ends up being mistakenly hired as a servant.
But then a bloody murder throws a spanner in the wedding nuptials with the arrival of an incompetent detective in Inspector Watt (Tim Goodman-Hill).
Written by comic and tv host Jimmy Carr and his brother Patrick as well as Steve and Andrew Dawson and their childhood friend Tim Inman, Fackham Hall is a parody of those British dramas like Downton Abbey, Upstairs Downstairs and Gosford Park. The film is full of puns, sight gags, bodily functions, physical comedy, double entendres and naughty innuendo, although the humour here is more sophisticated than that found in the average Carry On comedy. A running joke through the film sees author J R R Tolkien (played by Jason Done, from tv series Waterloo Road, etc) getting inspiration for his 1937 novel from eavesdropping on snippets of conversations from other guests.
Director Jim O’Hanlon, who hails from a background in British television, gives the film the feel of some of those classic Ealing comedies from yesteryear. He maintains a fairly fast pace throughout. Many of the jokes land, but even when one gag falls flat another one follows along quickly to ensure the audience keeps laughing. Fackham Hall has been nicely shot by cinematographer Philipp Blaubuch (who has worked on tv series including Bridgerton, etc). The production design from Andrew Holden-Stoka and Chris Richmond is superb.
O’Hanlon has assembled a strong ensemble cast to flesh out these eccentric characters and they seem attuned to the nonsense of the whole thing. McKenzie brings a feisty quality and a contemporary sense and sensibility to her role as Rose. She shares a good chemistry with the handsome Radcliffe. Cast against type in a comedic role Lewis throws himself into the role with gusto, and he essentially plays it deadpan as the foppish Lord Davenport. Carr contributes a small role as a dithering clergyman who inappropriately punctuates his sentences as he reads his sermons.
Great fun!
★★★
