Downton Abbey

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Photo courtesy of Focus Features

Downtown Abbey

Nearly four years have passed since the fifty-second and final episode of the British series Downton Abbey put that mannered—and sometimes soapy, sentimental—snow globe of upper and lower British class society at the start of the last century, on the shelf. But in the Focus Features film that opens nationally next Friday, after this one-night-only advanced screening—which takes place at The CarolinaTheatre and at various theaters throughout the Triangle—only a little over a year has elapsed since we last looked on. It’s 1927 in the North Yorkshire estate, and the younger generation, including the Earl of Grantham’s daughter, Mary (Michelle Dockery), and son-in-law, Tom (Allen Leech), is coming into its own. They’re also openly questioning the sustainability of their way of life, in the face of economic reversals and the closure of other similar estates nearby. But the imminent arrival of King George V (Simon Jones), Queen Mary (Geraldine James) to the abbey puts particular pressure on parties downstairs and upstairs, including the DowagerCountess (Maggie Smith). One thing’s for sure: tears will be jerked by JulianFellowes’s script. Don’t forget the tissues. —Byron Woods