{"id":13005,"date":"2025-09-13T12:28:21","date_gmt":"2025-09-13T16:28:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=13005"},"modified":"2025-11-11T11:51:47","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T16:51:47","slug":"downton-abbey-the-grand-finale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2025\/09\/13\/downton-abbey-the-grand-finale\/","title":{"rendered":"Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale<\/strong> (2025)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Focus\/Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 124 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (suggestive material and some thematic elements)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Simon Curtis\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Julian Fellowes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: John Lunn\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Ben Smithard\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: September 12, 2025 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Simon Russell Beale, Hugh Bonneville, Laura Carmichael, Jim Carter, Raquel Cassidy, Paul Copley, Michelle Dockery, Kevin Doyle, Michael Fox, Joanne Froggatt, Arty Froushan, Paul Giamatti, Harry Hadden-Paton, Fifi Hart, Robert James-Collier, Allen Leech, Phyllis Logan, Elizabeth McGovern, Sophie McShera, Lesley Nicol, Alessandro Nivola, Douglas Reith, Joely Richardson, Eva Samms, Dominic West, Penelope Wilton.<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0It\u2019s the end of an era…. for now.<\/p>\n

\u00a0As indicated by the title, Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale<\/strong> is the final chapter of the Crawley family saga which started way back in 2010 with the premiere of the first series on ITV (in the UK) and PBS (in the US). Of course, you know what they say about the whole \u201cFinal Chapter\u201d thing. There\u2019s always a way to a \u201cNew Beginning\u201d. But I\u2019m getting way ahead of myself here.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Unlike the previous film A New Era, The Grand Finale<\/strong> doesn\u2019t open with a recap of the significant events from the movies that came before it. Director Simon Curtis (A New Era) cuts through all the narrative brush and gets right to the latest drama going on in and around Downton Abbey circa 1930. Lady Mary (Dockery, Non-Stop) creates a scandal when the news of her divorce from Henry Talbot makes the front page. That\u2019s a no-no in British high society. She\u2019s asked to leave a fancy party before the royal couple arrives. The family\u2019s friends and neighbors shun them. She becomes persona non gratta. It\u2019s bad.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The Crawleys face financial troubles after Harold (Giamatti, The Holdovers), brother to family matriarch Cora (McGovern, Ragtime), loses most of their inheritance from their late mother. He made some bad investments. His American financial advisor Gus (Nivola, The Brutalist), who helped him narrowly avoid complete ruin in the Wall Street Crash of 1929, accompanies him to England where he and Mary find themselves mutually attracted to each other. He\u2019s also hoping he can get the whole family on board with his plan to recoup the losses incurred by Harold. Yeah, he\u2019s shady.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The Grand Finale<\/strong> marks a passing of the torch so to speak. Family patriarch Robert (Bonneville, Paddington 1-3) has reached the point where it\u2019s time to turn the reins of Downton over to Mary. He has a hard time letting go, especially with the divorce scandal hanging over Mary\u2019s head. He\u2019s not the only one stepping aside. Butler Carson (Carter, Shakespeare in Love) and head cook Patmore (Nicol, East Is East) are calling it a day too. Husband and wife Andy Parker (Fox) and Daisy (McShera, Cinderella) will be replacing them. They both worry that they can\u2019t fill their predecessors\u2019 shoes.<\/p>\n

\u00a0These Downton Abbey stories typically have some big event going down at the stately manor. This time, it\u2019s a visit from flamboyant playwright Noel Coward (Froushan, Carnival Row) who will be there with actor Guy Dexter (West, The Wire) and his not-so-secret lover Barrow (Collier, Coronation Street), the former butler. Mary\u2019s dresser Anna (Froggatt, Liar) comes up with a plan to get her lady back in everybody\u2019s good social graces.<\/p>\n

\u00a0It\u2019s hard to review a movie like The Grand Finale<\/strong>. While it\u2019s definitely cinematic, it\u2019s really little more than an entire season of the TV show compressed into two hours. Not that I\u2019m complaining. Downton Abbey is a great show. The drama is compelling. The characters are fully fleshed out. It\u2019s rich in period detail (i.e. costumes, sets, cars and interior d\u00e9cor). It\u2019s a well made show. The movies follow suit. What\u2019s especially good about them is that they don\u2019t have to waste time on things like character development. You already know everybody. The makers can get right to the story. Of course, that means nothing to the uninitiated. I\u2019ll put it like this. If you didn\u2019t watch the show, there\u2019s no reason for you to see the film. It\u2019s for the fans. I\u2019m one of them.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The acting, as always, is superb. The actors fit as neatly into their old rows as an elderly man in his favorite old cardigan. It\u2019s really hard to single out any one of the performers, but I will say that Dockery commands the screen every time she\u2019s on it. Froushan is a riot as Noel Coward who, as it turns out, got the idea for one of his most famous works from the private life of Mary. Can you guess which one?<\/p>\n

\u00a0The presence of the late Dame Maggie Smith, to whom The Grand Finale<\/strong> is lovingly dedicated, hangs over Downton like a sharp-tongued but benevolent spirit. A portrait of her hangs in the main hallway of the mansion watching all that goes on. It\u2019s the perfect note to go out on. Seeing all the Abbey characters again is like going to a family reunion. Some drama rears its head, a few pointed words might be exchanged, but it\u2019s familiar territory you don\u2019t mind revisiting. Who knows, maybe we will someday.\"\"<\/p>\n

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

Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale (2025)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Focus\/Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 124 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (suggestive material and some thematic elements)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Simon Curtis\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Julian Fellowes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: John Lunn\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Ben Smithard\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: September 12, 2025 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Simon Russell Beale, Hugh Bonneville, Laura Carmichael, Jim Carter, Raquel Cassidy, Paul Copley, Michelle Dockery, Kevin Doyle, Michael […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13019,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dramas"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Downton-Abbey-3-POSTER.jpg?fit=620%2C918&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13005"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13021,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13005\/revisions\/13021"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}