ROME, APRIL 26 – There is something reassuring that the group of nobles and butlers who live in the Victorian castle of Highclere in Hampshire, less than an hour from London, manage to communicate, whether it is the cult series or the version cinema – Downton Abbey 2: A new era hits theaters on April 28 with Universal – and it’s not just for the magnificent view of the English countryside or for that immense library or for the make-up and wigs that take us back to the late 1920s. There is a mix of feelings and irony, of high and low, joy and sadness, good taste, education, not without very human intrigues and subterfuges, there is always balance and at the bottom a sort of model of civil coexistence that today more than never seems to us an unattainable goal. It is the magic touch of Julian Fellowes, the creator of the world of Downton Abbey (from the novel by Julian Snobs), who has recently given viewers another period series, The Gilded Age, which is already being prepared for the second season after the success of the first (in Italy it was broadcast by Sky). Fellowes is back on track in the long-awaited second film dedicated to the mythical extended Grantham clan directed by Simon Curtis. Says Fellowes: “I want people to watch Downton and enjoy it. I also hope that from time to time we get them to think about the disparity of backgrounds in an egalitarian society, or about the difficulty of being homosexual in a historical period when it was still illegal. We touch on these kinds of topics but they are not the main purpose of the film. The aim of the film is to give the audience a nice evening “. The film, in cinemas from April 28, begins with the wedding of Tom Branson (Allen Leech) and Miss Lucy Smith (Tuppence Middleton), daughter of Maud, Lady Bagshaw (Imelda Staunton): it is 1928 and she reunites for the occasion all the family and servants of Downton Abbey. Since her health has deteriorated, the Countess Mother (Maggie Smith), the widow Crawley, has moved back to the castle. Violet has inherited a mansion in the south of France which she, in turn, wants to bequeath to Sybbie, the daughter of Lady Sybil and Branson. Who is the late Marquis of Montmirail? And why did he leave such a generous gift to the Countess Mother? (HANDLE).
(HANDLE)
