Review: 'Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale' gives fans a last chance to luxuriate in 1930s wealth and privilege, and gentle soap-opera theatrics

“Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale” is a charmingly instructive example of message discipline, since series creator and screenwriter Julian Fellowes repeats the same storyline with every character: This chapter of the lives of these characters is over, and the next one will happen off-camera.

This third and presumably final movie based on the popular British TV series focuses on transitions for the wealthy Crawley family and their staff of loyal servants. It’s 1930, and we’re told that the Crawley fortune — largely brought into the family by Lady Cora Grantham (Elizabeth McGovern), the American wife of Lord Grantham, aka Robert Crawley (Hugh Bonneville) — has largely survived the stock-market crash of 1929. However, when Cora’s brother, Henry (Paul Giamatti), visits the titular estate, he tells Cora that their late mother’s money is perilously close to vanishing, and with it the future of Downton Abbey.

Henry brings in tow Gus Sambrook (Alessandro Nivola, from “The Brutalist”), a handsome and seemingly wealthy investor, who has offered a plan to reinvest what’s left of Mama’s money to recoup Henry’s past losses. Gus is quite charming, as seen when over many gin cocktails, he and Lord Grantham’s daughter, Lady Mary Talbot (Michelle Dockery), end up sleeping together. 

Mary, you see, is finally unencumbered by a husband, having recently received her divorce from Lord Henry Talbot, the racing driver and cad. (Played by Matthew Goode in the series and the first movie, Henry Talbot is nowhere to be seen this time.) And while being single should be liberating, just as Mary is starting to take control of Downton Abbey’s operations, it’s also fodder for scandal. Mary experiences this at a society party, when the hostess, Lady Petersfield (Joely Richardson), ushers Mary out before royalty arrives.

Back at the mansion, the servants are going through some big changes. The imperious head butler, Carson (Jim Carter), has retired, but can’t quite give up the job to his successor, the former footman Andy Parker (Michael Fox). The head cook, Mrs. Patmore (Lesley Nicol), is more willing to hand over her post to her longtime assistant, Daisy Parker (Sophie McShera) — with the climax coming when Daisy and Andy, who are married, are put in charge of a big dinner party where the guests include the Crawley family’s old Hollywood friend, Guy Dexter (Dominic West), and a very famous acquaintance, continuing the show’s fascination with implanting real-life figures into the Crawleys’ orbit.

If you’re not familiar with the series or the previous two movies, some aspects of the characters may be lost on you — like why Mary’s tight bond with her sister, Lady Edith Hexham (Laura Carmichael), should be surprising; or why it’s weird to hear chauffeur-turned-relative Tom Branson (Allen Leech) talking like a capitalist. But for fans, reuniting with these folks is like a pleasant family reunion. 

Like a family reunion, though, one notices when a beloved relative isn’t there. The missing piece here is the family’s matriarch, Violet Crawley, who died in the last movie. She was played by Dame Maggie Smith, who herself died last year (and to whom the movie is dedicated) — and the absence of her acerbic humor is greatly missed, though her old friend, Lady Merton (Penelope Wilton), soldiers on admirably in trying to match it.

I found watching “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale” to be a lesson in fan service. Since I’m not a diehard fan, I looked for context clues to spot the signifiers of what makes particular characters and relationships so beloved. And because I’m not invested the way a fan would be, I could appreciate the way Fellowes and director Simon Curtis (“My Week With Marilyn”) set up the storyline to cash in on the fans’ nostalgia for these rich folks and their ceaselessly loyal staff. If you love the series, “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale” is a treat you’ll eat up with a spoon.

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‘Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale’

★★★

Opens Friday, September 12, in theaters everywhere. Rated PG for suggestive material, smoking and some thematic elements. Running time: 123 minutes.