Downton Abbey 3rd Movie: The Grand Finale

[HeavensWhatASnappyCharriot]

Thoughts please…
I’m a huge Downton fan and I’ve just watched the final film. I’m not entirely sure how I feel as I really built it up in my head and the film was so… different. It did feel a bit warm and fuzzy in places but also quite disappointing. What did you think?

I get what you mean — the third film had the charm and sentimentality, but it didn’t quite hit the emotional depth many of us hoped for. It tied things up neatly, maybe a little too neatly, which left it feeling safe rather than powerful. Still, as a finale, it gave fans closure with familiar warmth.
Check out :https://www.vogue.com/

This sums it up for me.

I was contemplating going to see it tomorrow, on my own. Followed by a quiet glass of wine.

If Mary’s divorce caused such a huge scandal why hasn’t more of a fuss been made about Marigold amongst the neighbours and high society circles Bertie and Edith move in. The casual acceptance of her into the family is one of the least believable aspects of the show.

The sidelining of the children was a bit odd. Not a single word heard from any of them. It would have cleared up some (of my) confusion if we could have heard a conversation between them and know who was whom.

Yes, I have seen Jessica Brown Findlay in more recent things..She is as beautiful as ever, but definitely older.

With Marigold I suspect they kept up the veneer that she’s an adopted orphan outside of the immediate family, and that gives people something to choose to believe (although no doubt gossip and speculate about wildly). There’s no denying the solid fact of Mary’s divorce.

Oh yes I forgot Edith initially pretended Farmer Drew and his wife were Marigold’s parents (or adoptive parents if she’s meant to be an orphan) and she was just taking an interest in her, providing money to help them out etc. It was all a bit ridiculous. Robert worked it out because Marigold began to resemble her real dad, Edith’s ex who vanished into thin air. Both he and Cora just shrugged and accepted it😂

Sybbie did speak! I heard her!

"Hello Aunt Mary" was just about it though 😂

Watching series 1 on itv3!

Considering how beloved Sybil was, you’d think Sybbie’s aunts and grandparents would have been a bit more enthusiastic about seeing her. She got a cursory “Sybbie darling..” from Edith who quickly moved on and a peck on the cheek from Mary. I didn’t spot Robert or Cora acknowledging her once.

I guess this is just meant to be a realistic depiction of how the upper classes behaved towards children, ie not showing too much affection? For some reason it made me think of a newsreel I saw of the Queen and Prince Philip returning from a 6 month tour around the world and greeting a tiny Prince Charles…with a handshake😂

Apologies, I've not read the whole thread as i don't want to see any spoilers as I've not seen this yet.

If you've not seen any of the tv series or previous films, will this film make any sense? I'm a fan, but my mum has not seen it before. I was thinking of taking her with me (a little break from caring for my dad), but if it doesn't work as a standalone film, then i guess it wouldn't make sense to! Can anyone who's seen it advise?

Thank you

I think it would work as a stand alone film. DH went with me and he has not seen the TV shows or the previous movies. I did have to explain a couple of things after the fact, but he definitely got the gist.

they did have some lines, George asked Andy if they could go play cricket or something, Sybbie had a 'goodbye' type line at the end, Marigold and Caroline asked Daisy if they could have some biscuits, etc.

I don't want to be mean because they're kids but tbh none of them have ever really come across as particularly natural actors so perhaps they don't want to stretch them too much?

On one hand it's nice they've kept the same kids throughout, on the other, unlike older actors where you can fudge their ages a bit (although we've now finally got to a stage where actually there's not a huge difference between in-show and real-life timespan, e.g. 2010-2025 vs1912-1930) it's really obvious the older 3 are much older than they are 'supposed' to be, having too many scenes with supposedly 8/9 year old George being nearly as tall as his grandmother and speaking with a broken voice might ruin the illusion even more, thus limiting them to token scenes.

I was thinking isn't George supposed to be a similar age to Anna's son? I remember Mary saying the they could share the nursery when Anna gave birth. But the boy playing her son, who was playing on the fairground ride, looked years younger than George.

I stand corrected, the nursery sharing was with Mary's second child so the ages match up a bit better

I really liked it. Typical Downton and a bit silly but 2 hours of sheer escapism.

I absolutely love Mr Carson. He’s my favourite. Although finding out that he and Phyllis had sex left me SHOOK! 😂

I think I remember her being anxious about it before their wedding and talking about it with Mrs Patmore.

I dont know why they're all so insistent that Mary is going to be such an amazing modern manager for the estate given we haven't seen her take any action in relation to it since the whole pig storyline and her idea of financial management seems to be as bad as her father's

I accept she might not have been able to foresee the increase in property prices for London but still, selling off that house instead of one of their myriad other ones (Crawley house, the dower house, that other random Manor near Durham they think about moving to in season3 and then never mention again) but deciding to run two households within the SAME village is utterly insane.

In reality George would have already been sent away to boarding school by now so it's completely ridiculous to have her and her daughter living in one fully staffed giant house and her parents in another down the road. Just have separate wings for heavens sake!

I think the house will become rundown, Mary will become eccentric and then in 1939 be taken over by child evacuees who will have lots of jolly adventures in this crumbling old manor and the weird lady that lives there.
Cue spin off TV programme.....

I'd watch that.

I watched it today and loved it.

Someone on another thread suggested Baxter wouldn't have kept working after marriage. The same should then surely have applied to Mrs Patmore-Mason (who did have lovely teeth I noticed)?

I loved Edith's sass. I didn't like bumbling Mr Mosely and how come random ex-employees can seemingly pop in for dinner whenever they are passing?

Perhaps they all keep working so they can have access to the miracle healing power of the abbey as @Toddlerteaplease pointed out the amazing recoveries throughout the series (albeit countered by the multiple deaths...hey that's another possible alternative storyline...Mr Mason's eternal youth is down to human sacrifices....)

Amusingly I saw an interview with the Real Countess of Highclere the other day who said there are multiple medieval wells underneath the foyer floor!

The only amazing recovery I could suspend belief for was that Thomas might not need the hand support if he’s not in a physically demanding job.

Derelict downton abbey would definitely appeal

Didn't Marigold's father go to Germany to get a divorce and was killed there?

Anyone know why he would go to Germany for a divorce?
(Other than a plot device to kill him off!)