Downton Abbey 唐頓莊園 第3季/ The World of Downton Abbey

 

電視

《唐頓莊園》編劇回應那些生離死別

DAVE ITZKOFF 報道 2013年03月23日

對《唐頓莊園》(Downton Abbey) 里的克勞利(Crawleys)一家以及僕人們來說，日子過得不大順（看在上帝的份上，如果你不想看到在PBS“經典劇場”[Masterpiece]播 放的該劇第三季的劇透，就不要再往下讀了。如果你是瑪吉·史密斯[Maggie Smith]，那就更不要讀了，你得回到第一季重頭補課）。
在今年回歸的這部熱門年代劇中，這個家庭迎來了科拉(Cora)的母親、說話口無遮攔的瑪莎·萊文森（Martha Levinson，雪莉·麥克萊恩[Shirley MacLaine]飾）； 之後，他們失去了西比爾小姐（Lady Sybil，傑西卡·布朗·芬德利[Jessica Brown Findlay]飾），她在分娩後去世；當他們得知托馬斯（Thomas，羅伯·詹姆斯-科利爾[Rob James-Collier]飾）是同性戀時，產生了很大的成見。

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Giles Keyte/Carnival Film & Television Limited 2012 for MASTERPIECE.

本季的最後一集於周日（2月17日——譯註）播放，英國是在聖誕節期間播放的。在尾聲部分，馬修（Matthew，丹·史蒂文斯[Dan Stevens]飾 ）和瑪麗小姐（Lady Mary，米歇爾·多克里[Michelle Dockery]飾）慶祝他們的第一個孩子降生，之後馬修因車禍去世。所有這些都是朱利安·費洛斯(Julian Fellowes) 的“傑作”。這位奧斯卡最佳編劇得主，構思、創作了《唐頓莊園》。但是，筆下人物的命運有些是他選擇的結果，而另一些則是其控制範圍之外的原因造成的。最 近，費洛斯先生在倫敦的家中通過電話講述了充滿歡聚和離別的這一季，以及他對自己將來如何退出該劇是怎樣考慮的。下面是電話採訪的節選。
問：讓西比爾和馬修在同一季里離世，是你的決定嗎？
答：不是。你知道，在美國，在一部電視劇開始 的時候，讓演員簽5年或者7年的合約是很正常的。但是英國的經紀人最多只允許你簽3年。傑西卡和丹想要離開。這部電視劇特別特別成功，所以他們得到了一些 很好的機會。不要認為我這麼說是在批評誰——我完全不怪他們。我還記得，我年輕時候做演員時，忽然之間就覺得我該去倫敦了。當時我正在鄉下演“定目劇” （在一處固定劇院長期演出的戲劇——譯註），在一季中間的時候，我辭演了。當然，我所有的朋友和我的父母都認為我瘋了。我去了倫敦，在西區(West End)劇院獲得了跟海莉·米爾斯(Hayley Mills)演對手戲的機會。當傑西卡和丹說他們想離開時，我提醒自己這段往事。我當時想：“呃，你不能發脾氣，因為這正是你當年做的事，而且情節還沒你 自己當年那麼嚴重呢。”
問：你有沒有試着勸這些演員留下來？
答：我們想讓他們留下來，我們說：“你們能不 能再演兩三集呢？然後可以說你們搬到美國或者都柏林去了。”但是他們都想要徹底退出。如果是扮演僕人的演員想離開，並不是太大的問題——[那個人物得到 了]另外一個工作。但是一個家庭成員一旦打算完全不再出現在之後的任何一集里，那唯一的辦法就是讓他死去。因為，馬修怎麼可能永遠不想再見他的孩子，不想 再見他的妻子呢？怎麼可能永遠不出現在這個由他繼承的莊園里呢？所以我們真的別無選擇。我和大家一樣感到遺憾。
問：一旦你接受了他們要離開的事實，你是如何決定在敘述上處理這個情況的呢？
答：關於傑西卡的離世，似乎得用一整集來交 代。至於丹，我本希望我們可以在我目前正在寫的第四季里的某一集里交代他的離世，這樣我們可以高高興興地結束聖誕節那一集——孩子誕生，一切都很美好。然 後可以在下一季的第一集里讓他離世。但是他不想那樣。我不想讓他的離世主導聖誕節那一集，所以這就是為什麼我們在快要結束的時候才讓他死去。從某種角度 講，我覺得這樣很好，因為我們要在四個月之後才開始新的一季。這樣我們就不用寫葬禮什麼的那一堆事了。到那時候一切都過去了。
問：這一季的另一個故事線索是這家人發現僕人托馬斯是同性戀。你創造這個角色的時候，就是這麼設定的嗎？
答：我從一開始就把他設定為同性戀。不知道美 國是什麼情況，但是在這裡（英國——譯註）很多40歲以下的人幾乎不知道20世紀60年代以前同性戀是違法的。同性戀向別人示愛真的是在以身試法。他們一 生都生活在恐懼、身敗名裂和羞恥之中，他們會失去一份又一份工作。我覺得有必要提醒人們，很多我們認為理所當然的事情，從歷史的角度看，是新出現的事物。 另外我覺得一個生活在這種壓力下的人非常暴躁、吝嗇、多疑，是自然的。一旦知道他承受着怎樣的壓力，你就能從很大程度上原諒他。我想寫一些人物，我不必讓 他做什麼改變，你也會對他產生不同的看法。
問：莊園里其他人的反應，特別是那些強烈反對者的反應，也讓你從新的角度來看待他們。
答：呃，我覺得如果你為了讓那些人表現出同情 心，而讓他們持有現代人的態度，那就不對了，我認為觀眾會察覺到這一點。如果卡爾森說“哦，是的，我覺得這完全沒問題”，那是生活在2013年的人會說的 話。實際上，我的父母對此沒有任何偏見。實際上，我哥哥的教父就是公開的同性戀，在20世紀50年代，這可是了不得的事情。他是我父親的一個好朋友。我父 親是個自由主義者，根本不在乎別人是不是同性戀。但是我們可能會忘記，也就在幾年前，我們還被包圍在這種偏見之中。
問：這一季美國觀眾更明顯地感覺到《唐頓莊園》先是在英國播放，他們提前數月就得到了劇透。你可能沒有決定權，但是你希望這部電視劇能在兩國同時播放嗎？
答：呃，我很希望能同時播放。我自己的感覺 是，不同的屏幕背後的觀眾的看法屬於不同的時代。網絡已經把世界變小了。在我看來，我們兩個講英語的國家相互分享娛樂節目的程度，與世界上任何有互聯網的 國家是一樣的。我非常希望我們能一起看。現在的世界更加全球化了。所以我期待這種情況得以改變的那一天，我確信會有那一天。
問：你也在給NBC寫一部名叫《鍍金時代》(The Gilded Age)的年代劇。
答：我還沒開始寫。我打算在《唐頓莊園》結束 後開始寫。還有很多障礙需要克服。你得先寫一個樣集，他們得決定要不要開拍，要不要接着拍續集。所以我還得跨過好幾道鴻溝才能真的開始寫那個電視劇。但是 如果順利的話，如果我要在NBC寫電視劇的話，我就不能同時寫《唐頓莊園》的每一集。我希望所有的障礙都清除了的時候，在時機到的時候，我可以專心寫那部 新戲。如果《唐頓莊園》還繼續拍下去——當然，那不是我能決定的——那我就得和其他作者一起寫。也許我會主導，但是會有其他作者加入進來。
問：你能想像《唐頓莊園》沒有你還繼續拍下去的情況嗎？
答：我覺得那會很搞笑。但是在生活中，常常是你剛說完“哦，我絕不會那樣做”，接着就被迫做那件事了。把話說那麼絕對沒意義。我唯一知道的就是，我不可能寫11個小時《唐頓莊園》，然後再寫10個小時《鍍金時代》，更不可能同時寫兩部劇。
問：你難道不希望按你自己的意願結束這部電視劇嗎？
答：我希望所有的事都按我的意思來。但是生活就是不斷地發現你不能隨心所欲。我自己的理念是，凡事都有一個生命周期。重要的一點是知道什麼時候該開始，什麼時候該結束。但是我們現在還看不到這個時間呢。有些電視劇能演20年，不是嗎？但是我覺得《唐頓莊園》不是那種電視劇。
問：你能說說新一季有哪些主題嗎？
答：我這麼說應該不能算劇透：其中一個重要的主題是瑪麗小姐的生活重建，她要在這個不斷變化的社會裡重建她的生活。我們知道20世紀20年代女性的社會地位跟如今的女性相比，要低很多。但是跟之前的30年相比，還是有巨大的進步。這些在劇中都會有所探究。
[在這裡可以看到與費洛斯先生後面的談話。]

本文最初發表於2013年3月7日。
翻譯：王艷

Julian Fellowes Discusses a Season of Comings and Goings at ‘Downton Abbey’

By DAVE ITZKOFF March 23, 2013

These have been dark days for the Crawleys and their household staff at "Downton Abbey." (And for heaven's sake, don't read any further if you don't want the events of Season 3 of this PBS "Masterpiece" series spoiled for you. This goes double if you're Maggie Smith, in which case you should really go back and start with Season 1.)
After the popular period drama returned this year with the arrival of Cora's mother, Martha Levinson (played by Shirley MacLaine) and her outspoken ways, the family lost Lady Sybil (Jessica Brown Findlay), who died after giving birth, and confronted deep prejudices when they learned Thomas (Rob James-Collier) was gay.


Then, in the closing moments of Sunday's season finale, broadcast in Britain at Christmastime, after Matthew (Dan Stevens) and Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) celebrated the birth of their first child, Matthew was killed in a car accident.These developments are all the handiwork of Julian Fellowes, the Academy Award-winning screenwriter who created and writes "Downton Abbey." But some were twists that he chose for his characters, and others were made necessary by circumstances beyond his control. In these edited excerpts, Mr. Fellowes spoke by phone recently from his home in London about a season of comings and goings at Downton, and how he is thinking about his own exit from the show.
Q. Was it your decision to dispense with Sybil and Matthew in the same season?
A. No. You see, in America, it's quite standard for an actor to sign, at the beginning of a series, for five or seven years. The maximum any British agent will allow you to have over an actor is three years. And Jessica and Dan wanted to go. The show had been very, very successful, tremendously so, and they were being offered great opportunities. Don't think I'm saying it critically - I don't blame them at all. I can remember when I was a young actor, and I just had this feeling it was time to go to London. I was doing repertory theater in the country, and I resigned halfway through the season. Of course, all my friends and my parents thought I was completely mad. I went up to London and I got a job in a West End show with Hayley Mills. I reminded myself of that when Jessica and Dan said they wanted to go. I thought, "Well, you can't be that snippy because on a scaled-down version, that's exactly what you did."
Q. Did you try to persuade these actors to stay on?
A. We wanted them to stay and said, "Would you just do two or three episodes? And then you're living in America or in Dublin." But they both felt they wanted to make a clean break. When an actor playing a servant wants to leave, there isn't really a problem - [that character gets] another job. With members of the family, once they're not prepared to come back for any episodes at all, then it means death. Because how believable would it be that Matthew never wanted to see the baby, never wanted to see his wife? And was never seen again at the estate that he was the heir to? So we didn't have any option, really. I was as sorry as everyone else.
Q. Once you'd made your peace with their departures, how did you decide to handle them narratively?
A. With Jessica, it seemed right to give her a whole episode that was about her death. With Dan, I had hoped that we would have one episode of this fourth season that I'm writing now, so we could have ended the Christmas episode on a happy note - the baby, everything lovely. And then kill him in the first episode of the next series. But he didn't want to do that. I didn't want his death to dominate the Christmas special, so that's why we killed him at the very, very end. In a way I think it works quite well because we begin Series 4 six months later. We don't have to do funerals and all that stuff. That's all in the past by then.
Q. Another story line from this season dealt with the household learning that the servant Thomas is gay. Had you decided that about him from the time you created the character?
A. He was always going to be gay. I don't know about in America, but here, there are so many people under 40 who were hardly aware of the fact that it was actually illegal until the 1960s. Perfectly normal men and women were risking prison by making a pass at someone. Their whole life was lived in fear, and ruin and humiliation and career after career would be smacked down. I think it's useful to remind people that many things that they take for granted, are, in terms of our history, comparatively new. But I also felt it was believable that someone living under that pressure would be quite snippy and ungenerous and untrusting. But once you understood what he was up against, you'd forgive quite a lot of that. I like to write characters where you change your mind, without them becoming different people.
Q. The reactions from the others in the house, particularly those who disapprove so vehemently, make you see them in a new light, too.
A. Well, I think it's a mistake to give people modern attitudes if you want them to remain sympathetic, because I think the audience picks up on that. If Carson had said, "Oh, yes, I think it's absolutely fine," that's a 2013 response. My parents didn't have any prejudice about this at all, actually. In fact, my brother's godfather was gay, quite publicly, which in the 50s was pretty wild. This was a good friend of my father's. He was liberal. It didn't bother him if people were homosexual. But we can forget how we were ringed in with these prejudices until really quite recently.
Q. This season, in particular, it felt like American viewers were much more aware that "Downton" was showing first in Britain, and were having plot details spoiled months in advance. You may not be able to control this, but would you like the series be shown simultaneously in both regions?
A. Well, I would love them to be simultaneous. And my own feeling is that the thinking behind different screenings belongs to a different era. The Internet has shrunk the world.  We're the two English-speaking countries that enjoy each other's entertainment, it seems to me, as much as any linked countries in the world. I would vastly prefer that we all saw it together. The world is much more global. And so I look forward to the day when it changes, as I'm sure it will.
Q. You're also writing a new period drama for NBC called "The Gilded Age."
A. I'm not yet. I'm going to, when "Downton" finishes. But there are many hurdles that have to be cleared. You have to write the pilot, they have to decide they're going to make it, they have to decide whether they want to pick it up. So it's a line of ditches that lies between me and the series. But if it goes, and if I'm doing a series at NBC, I would not be able to write all of "Downton" and all of that series at the same time. I would hope that by the time all the hurdles have been cleared, the timing makes it so I can then concentrate on the new series. And if "Downton" goes on - of course that's not my decision - then it would be with other writers. Perhaps with me supervising, but with other writers.
Q. Could you imagine a scenario where "Downton" continues without you?
A. I think it would be funny. But in life, you no sooner say "Oh, I'd never do such and such" than you find yourself strapped into a chair, doing it. There's no point, really, in making pronouncements of absolutes. The only thing is, I know I would not be able to write 11 hours of "Downton" and 10 hours of "The Gilded Age," or whatever it is, side by side.
Q. Wouldn't you prefer to end the series on your own terms?
A. I'd prefer to do everything on my terms. The business of life is learning that you can't lay down the terms. My own belief is that these things have a life. And one of the tricks is to recognize when it's time to come to an end. But we haven't made a decision when that will be. Some things go on for 20 years, don't they, but I just don't see "Downton" being one of them.
Q. Can you say yet what the themes of this new season will be?
A. I'm not giving anything away by saying that one of the main themes is the rebuilding of Mary, that Mary has to rebuild her life in a society which is changing. We would see women's roles in the '20s as being very much behind women today. But it was a big advance on what it had been 30 years before. And that's all explored in the show.
[The conversation with Mr. Fellowes is continued here.]

《唐頓莊園》，一場有些微痛感的白日夢

ALESSANDRA STANLEY 報道 2013年01月08日

Nick Briggs/Carnival Film & Television

《唐頓莊園》第三季1月6日在美國PBS頻道開播。

我們已經花費太多時間、太多口舌，研究《唐頓莊園》(Downton Abbey)為何如此成功，但是實際上原因很簡單。這部關於英國貴族和僕人的系列電視劇，像《格雷的五十道陰影》(Fifty Shades of Grey)一樣，是一部軟色情之作，但是它關注的重點是子嗣和遺產，而不是有點變態的性愛。

E·L·詹姆斯(E. L. James)寫的邪惡的性虐三部曲《格雷的五十道陰影》，一開始是電子書，由於在老式的愛情故事中加入了《O的故事》(Story of O)式的捆綁元素，所以具有了興奮點，出版後轟動一時。《唐頓莊園》最初只打算拍一季，現在它的第三季將於本周日（2013.1月6日——譯註）在PBS頻道開始播放；從根本上講，它是一個帶有濃重的《福爾賽世家》(The Forsyte Saga)色彩的愛情故事。那個三部曲充滿了厚顏無恥的性愛n (HC: 翻譯可能有問題 ；而這部系列電視劇則具有高爾斯華綏（Galsworthy，《福爾賽世家》的作者——譯註）的深度。

儘管服裝和場景不同，但它們用的都是都一個公式：沒有什麼危機會永遠存在；不管多麼讓人心痛的損失，都會過去的。相同的套路在各本書（或各季）中反 覆出現，當然會有些變化，但是變化不大。《格雷的五十道陰影》不斷展現天真、年輕的女主人公和富有、英俊、具有強烈控制欲的情人之間的性虐遊戲；《唐頓莊 園》則不斷重現樓上主人們之間的矛盾衝突以及樓下傭人們之間的緊張關係。

兩者都給粉絲們帶來了愉快的焦慮，以及些微的痛感。不管是秘密遊戲室里的鞭打，還是“一戰”戰壕里的戰傷，不愉快的事不會持續得太久，也不會留下印記。

《唐頓莊園》第二季裡 面的好事太多了——令人愉快到幾乎有些尷尬。第三季更是如此。“一戰”結束了，大英帝國氣數將盡，但是不知為何裡面的人物還沒有充分認識到這個時代要終結 了。變化正在悄悄發生，但是還沒成為主流。《唐頓莊園》的居民，不管是樓上的還是樓下的，都在談論各種進步（烤麵包機讓男管家很震驚），但是他們還沒有意 識到這對他們的生活方式將產生多大影響。

正是這種無憂無慮，讓這部系列劇變成了令人愉快的逃避現實之作。《唐頓莊園》有《故園風雨後》(Brideshead Revisited)的浪漫與優雅，卻沒有譴責和不詳的預兆，這使它不同於其他很多嚴肅反省英國等級制度的作品，比如1993年的電影《長日留痕》(The Remains of the Day)或者BBC出品的《隊列之末》(Parade’s End)，後者改編自福特·麥多克斯·福特(Ford Madox Ford)的經典同名小說，編劇是湯姆·斯托帕德(Tom Stoppard)，今年將在HBO頻道播出。
新一季的《唐頓莊園》從1920年講起。馬修·克勞利（Matthew Crawley，丹·史蒂文斯[Dan Stevens]飾）和他的真愛瑪麗小姐（Lady Mary，米歇爾·多克里[Michelle Dockery]飾）終於開始準備他們的婚禮了；這場社交活動如此尊貴，甚至把瑪麗小姐讓人畏懼的美國祖母瑪莎（Martha，雪莉·麥克萊恩 [Shirley MacLaine]飾）都吸引來了。瑪莎富有、專橫、固執，是那種會這樣跟新娘打招呼的人：“把你的婚禮安排告訴我，讓我看看能怎麼改進。”

她跟從不服輸的格蘭瑟姆(Grantham)伯爵夫人維奧萊特（Violet，瑪吉·史密斯[Maggie Smith]飾），真是棋逢對手。維奧萊特跟她的兒媳科拉(Cora)說，她期待與科拉的母親再次相見：“跟她在一起的時候，我就能想起英國人的各種優點。”

馬修沒回過神來，問道：“她不是美國人嗎？”
“所以啊，”維奧萊特答道。

樓下的發生了幾段新戀情，不過大多還是陳年愛情故事衍生出的新一輪的分手與和好。貼身男僕貝茨（Bates，布蘭登·科伊爾[Brendan Coyle]飾）因為謀殺前妻而入獄，他忠誠的現任妻子安娜（Anna，喬安妮·弗羅蓋特[Joanne Froggatt]飾）毫不氣餒地努力幫他洗刷罪名。

唐頓莊園里的人也不會放棄這種努力——主人們和僕人們都站在安娜這一邊。當一個僕人悄悄議論，說貝茨是個被定了罪的殺人犯時，男管家卡爾森先生（Mr. Carson，吉姆·卡特[Jim Carter]）說了下面這句話，讓那位自命不凡的、無禮的僕人頓時安分了。

“在這個家裡，”他沉吟道，“我們認定，貝茨先生是被冤枉的，他會討回公道的。”

討回公道在這個世界裡，不是什麼難事。在《唐頓莊園》里，法律判決能輕易被扭轉，就像脊柱損傷能被治癒、凝固的蛋黃醬能被複原一樣簡單。財富能失而復得，某些階級界限能被跨越，愛情能一次次如願以償。

《唐頓莊園》是一場越演越荒唐的白日夢，《格雷的五十道陰影》也是如此：一場無數觀眾永遠都看不夠的白日夢。

翻譯：王艷

Refined Titillation, With Breeding as the Tease

By ALESSANDRA STANLEY January 08, 2013

A lot of time and discussion have been spent deciphering the extraordinary success of “Downton Abbey,” but it’s actually pretty simple. This series about British aristocrats and their servants is “Fifty Shades of Grey”: soft-core pornography, but fixated on breeding and heritage rather than kinky sex.
The infamous “Fifty Shades” S-and-M trilogy by E. L. James began as an e-book and became a publishing sensation by adding a frisson of “Story of O”-style bondage to an old-fashioned romance novel. And “Downton Abbey,” which was supposed to last only one season, is beginning its third on PBS on Sunday and is basically a romance novel with a thick dollop of “The Forsyte Saga.” The books have gall; the television series has Galsworthy.

The costumes and settings differ, but they rely on the same formula. In both works no crisis lasts forever, and no loss, however saddening, is insurmountable. The same set pieces are repeated, with some but not much variation, from one book — or season — to another. The novels keep offering whips-and-velvet couplings between the innocent young heroine and her rich, handsome dominator/lover. “Downton Abbey” reconfigures conflicts between the lords and ladies upstairs that are mirrored by tensions among the servants below.
Both offer fans pleasurable suspense with only the faint intimation of actual pain. Unpleasantness doesn’t last long or leave marks, be it a whipping in the secret playroom or combat injuries in the trenches of World War I.
Season 2 of “Downton Abbey” was too much of a good thing — enjoyable but almost embarrassingly so. Season 3 is more of the same. World War I is over, and the British Empire is already in its twilight, but somehow the devastation of the epoch hasn’t fully sunk in. Change is in the air, but not yet in the bloodstream. The inhabitants of Downton Abbey, upstairs and down, talk of progress (an electric toaster scandalizes the butler), but without much awareness of what it will do to their way of life.
It’s that cheeriness that makes the show such delightful escapism. “Downton Abbey” has all the romance and elegance of “Brideshead Revisited” without the censure and foreboding that distinguished that and other more somber examinations of the British class system, be it the 1993 movie “The Remains of the Day” or Ford Madox Ford’s masterpiece, “Parade’s End,” which was adapted for the BBC by Tom Stoppard and will be coming to HBO this year.
The new season of “Downton Abbey” picks up in 1920. Matthew Crawley (Dan Stevens) and his true love, Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery), are at long last preparing for their wedding, a society event so exalted it lures even Lady Mary’s daunting American grandmother, Martha, played by Shirley MacLaine. Martha is rich, presumptuous and pushy, the kind of woman who greets the bride by saying, “Tell me all of your wedding plans, and I’ll see what I can do to improve them.”
And she is almost a match for the indomitable Violet, the Dowager Countess of Grantham, played by Maggie Smith. Violet tells her daughter-in-law, Cora, that she is looking forward to seeing Cora’s mother again: “When I’m with her I am reminded of the virtues of the English.”
Matthew takes the bait. “But isn’t she American?” he asks.
“Exactly,” Violet replies.
There are a few new flirtations downstairs, but mostly old love stories are revived with a fresh cycle of separation and reunion. Bates (Brendan Coyle), the valet, is in prison for murdering his former wife, and his loyal current wife, Anna (Joanne Froggatt), won’t stop trying to clear his name.
Neither will the Downton household — the estate’s family and the help are on her side. When a servant mutters something about Bates’s being a convicted murderer, the butler, Mr. Carson (Jim Carter), puts the impertinent upstart in his place.
“In this house,” he intones, “Mr. Bates is a wronged man seeking justice.”
And justice in this world isn’t such a long shot. On “Downton Abbey” judicial sentences can be reversed with the same ease that spine injuries are cured and curdled mayonnaise is restored. Fortunes lost can be regained, some class lines can be breached, and love triumphs again and again, and then one more time.
“Downton Abbey” is a fantasy that gets sillier in prolongation, and as is the case with “Fifty Shades of Grey,” there is a huge audience that cannot get enough.

2012.2

The Reality of 'Downton Abbey'

Reviewed by JUDITH NEWMAN

Three books explore the true lives behind the fictional world of "Downton Abbey."

The TV Watch

Forget War; Romance Is in the Air

Nick Briggs/ITV for Masterpiece

From left, Maggie Smith, Elizabeth McGovern and Hugh Bonneville in "Downton Abbey," returning to PBS on Sunday.

By ALESSANDRA STANLEY

Published: January 6, 2012

That second, irresistible slice of chocolate cake is almost always too much. It tastes good, of course, but the pleasurable surprise has dissipated. A sated palate turns discerning — the frosting seems a little too sweet, the base too rich.

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And yet somehow, there is an appetite for thirds.
The same can be said for the second season of “Downton Abbey,” which returns on Sunday to PBS with a flush of excitement and heightened expectations usually associated with “Mad Men” or even, back in the day, “Dallas.”
This elegant soap opera about masters and their servants in the twilight of the British Empire was a shameless throwback to “Upstairs Downstairs” and “The Forsyte Saga.” Season 2 is in many ways as captivating and addictive as the first, but this time around, the series comes off as a shameless throwback to itself.
The creator, Julian Fellowes, conceived “Downton Abbey” as a mini-series, but the viewer response was so enthusiastic that he and the producers decided to add more seasons. Accordingly, it’s a sequel that feels like a prolongation: plot twists are repeated, and the same devices are used in too many scenes. (Nosy servants overhear every private conversation, and nobody ever learns to close the door or talk outside.)
Most of all, the pivotal drawing room romance between Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) and Matthew Crawley (Dan Stevens) is now set amid the horror and mass destruction of World War I. The blend of coronets and cataclysm is harder to pull off.
Mr. Fellowes wrote the screenplay for Robert Altman’s “Gosford Park,” but in his own version of a period drama, Mr. Fellowes dispensed with the dark satire — and censure — that distinguished that film. “Gosford Park,” like “The Remains of the Day” and “Atonement,” limned the grandeur of a fading aristocracy with glints of delusion and corruption. “Downton Abbey” doesn’t have the same subversive core. If anything, it echoes a nostalgia for lost time that suffuses films like “Midnight in Paris” and “The Artist.”
The concerns of Lord Grantham (Hugh Bonneville); his American wife, Cora (Elizabeth McGovern); his redoubtable mother, the Dowager Countess (Maggie Smith); and three eligible daughters are mirrored by a hierarchy of servants with their own parallel web of romances and ambitions. The Crawleys keep their feelings from one another, but they unburden themselves to trusted maids and valets. With a few exceptions, the help is so loyal to the family and its position that any slip in prestige or loosening of standards is taken as a personal dishonor.
“Downton Abbey” is a lighthearted look at the class system that is deeply romantic about affairs of the heart. It’s not hard to see why it was such a hit: the series has a connoisseur’s eye for the most exquisite emblems of privilege and breeding and a fan’s gusto for intrigue and melodrama.
The story reopens in 1916 at the Battle of the Somme, where Matthew is an officer trying to keep his troops alive in an unending cascade of explosions and carnage. One moment he is face down in a bomb crater under raining shells, an injured man twitching next to him. The next he is packing up to go on leave, which includes a trip to Downton Abbey. (He calls to mind the line about the trenches, sometimes attributed to the actor and former soldier Ernest Thesiger: “My dear, the noise! And the people!”)
Matthew and Mary are still star-crossed; even war can’t repair their derailed romance. That impasse is echoed downstairs, where the love affair between Anna (Joanne Froggatt), a housemaid, and the valet, Mr. Bates (Brendan Coyle), keeps coming unraveled.
The war hasn’t left Lord Grantham’s world untouched: Footmen are called up for military service, and parlor maids have to fill in to serve dinner. Matthew’s pushy, do-good mother, Isobel (Penelope Wilton), has wheedled Lord Grantham into giving over part of the house to a convalescent station for wounded officers, where his youngest daughter, Lady Sybil (Jessica Brown-Findlay), volunteers as a nurse.
Season 2 pays lip service to a war that slaughtered a generation and battered the British class system — there are allusions that recall “Regeneration,” the World War I trilogy by Pat Barker, and Vera Brittain’s memoir, “Testament of Youth.” But they are made in passing.
A little like the movie “War Horse,” which is more about the horse than about the war, this series isn’t interested in using its main characters to explore the war’s devastation and tectonic social shifts; combat serves as a plot point and palate cleanser in between voyeuristic looks at high society. So battle scenes and hospital emergencies are clichéd or perfunctory, secondary to exquisite tableaus of swirling chiffon skirts, crystal decanters and lavish country landscapes.
Even the most devastating wounds are bound up and set aside in time to dress for dinner.
The series’s saving grace is Lady Mary, a Jane Austen heroine who harbors both pride and prejudice. Coolly self-contained and judgmental, Mary is her own worst enemy, but along with withering hauteur, she has self-awareness and a dry sense of humor. Deep down, of course, she has also inherited her snobbish grandmother’s loving heart.
As the Dowager Countess, Ms. Smith has many of the best lines and usually the last word. When her middle granddaughter, Lady Edith, frets that she will end up a spinster, Lady Violet says briskly, “Don’t be defeatist, Dear, it’s very middle class.”
There is nothing middle class about “Downton Abbey.” Even a world war can’t sever the bond between aristocrats and the servants who love them.



看過四集之後
我奇怪這半個世界都放映的影集
怎會沒書呢
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downton_Abbey
有啦

Book

The World of Downton Abbey, a book featuring a behind-the-scenes look at Downton Abbey was released on 15 September 2011. It was written by Jessica Fellowes (the niece of Julian Fellowes) and was published by HarperCollins.^[66][67]

---
唐頓莊園 DOWNTON ABBEY
http://www.pts.org.tw/downton/about.html
公視


Downton Abbey is a British television period drama series, produced by British media company Carnival Films for the ITV network. The series is set during the late Edwardian era (after Edward VII's death) and the First World War on the fictional estate of Downton Abbey in Yorkshire, and features an ensemble cast. It was created and principally written by actor and writer Julian Fellowes, and premiered on ITV on 26 September 2010.
Reception of the programme was predominantly positive; ratings were extremely high for what is usually considered a "genre" show, and the first series picked up a number of awards and nominations after its initial run. It has subsequently become the most successful British costume drama since the 1981 television serial version of Brideshead Revisited,^[1] and in 2011 it entered the Guinness Book of World Records as the "most critically acclaimed television show" for the year, becoming the first British show to win the accolade.^[2]
On 3 November 2011, ITV confirmed that a third series has been commissioned and will be broadcast from September 2012.^[3]

Highclere Castle, used for interior and exterior filming of Downton Abbey

The series is set in the fictional Downton Abbey, the Yorkshire country house of the Earl and Countess of Grantham, and follows the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants early in the reign of George V. The first series spans the two years prior to the Great War, commencing with news of the sinking of the Titanic, an event that sets the story in motion. The second series covers the years 1916 to 1919.
Highclere Castle in Hampshire^[4] was used for exterior shots of Downton Abbey as well as for the majority of the interior filming. The servants' living areas were constructed and filmed at Ealing Studios.^[5]
The village of Bampton in Oxfordshire was used for filming the outdoor scenes, most notably St Mary's Church and the village library, which serves as the entrance to the cottage hospital.^[6] The North Yorkshire towns of Malton, Thirsk, Easingwold, Kirkby, Kirkbymoorside, Middlesbrough, Ripon and Richmond have also been mentioned by characters in the series.
The first series cost an estimated £1 million per episode, and is the most successful British period drama since Brideshead Revisited, with British ratings exceeding 10 million viewers.^[1] The series was also well received in the United States, averaging over 6 million viewers per episode.^[7]

	故事開始於1912年，鐵達尼號沉沒的消息傳回到唐頓莊園，攪亂格蘭伯爵一家人原本平靜的生活，唐頓莊園的繼承人；伯爵的姪子在海難中喪生，伯爵的三個女兒無法繼承他的頭銜與產業，壯觀的莊園和龐大的家產要由誰繼承? 一場繼承的風波就此展開。 伯爵夫人是出身富裕的美國人，當初帶著豐厚的財產嫁到英國，在婆婆伯爵老夫人看來，這樁婚姻也是為保全家產不得不做的犧牲。不過因為憂慮唐頓莊園的未來；這一對原本相處不睦的婆媳變成同一陣線，要幫大女兒瑪麗以最快的速度找到金龜婿。 大姐瑪麗(Mary Crawley)天生麗質、頭腦聰明，不過冷若冰霜的態度常拒人於千里之外，面對結婚的壓力她心中已經自有主張。老二依蒂絲(Edith Crawley)不像大姐瑪麗有眾多追求者，中間排行的依蒂絲常覺得不受重視，於是努力要和大姐搶鋒頭、贏得眾人關注。小妹西碧(Sybil Crawley)是三姐妹中最叛逆的一個，她對家中的危機不甚關心，反而對政治及社會不公有強烈的熱忱。 在此同時，遙遠曼徹斯特的鄉村律師馬修(Matthew Crawley)接到一封信，身為伯爵遠親的他竟然是唐頓莊園的繼承人，這對中產階級的母子突然進入了上流社會的生活圈，猶如進入另一個世界，處境十分尷尬。 唐頓莊園中伯爵一家人的生活起居是由一大群僕人打點，這些僕人之間也有區分階級，並有許多需要謹守的紀律和規矩， 彼此間的勾心鬥角也不亞於主人一家。退役軍人的貝茲(John Bates)來到唐頓莊園擔任伯爵的貼身男僕，他的到來引起一陣議論，伯爵老爺對貝茲特別照顧，而貝茲似乎背負著許多秘密，只有女僕安娜對貝茲表達善意， 伯爵對貝茲的偏愛讓一些人不是滋味，於是處心積慮要陷害他。 在這樣的背景下【唐頓莊園】展開一段充滿動盪和不確定的故事，而第一次世界大戰的陰影也逐漸逼近… 唐頓莊園知識站 卡司 由 大卡司瑪姬史密斯(Maggie Smith)和休邦尼維爾 (Hugh Bonneville)領銜演出，奧斯卡金獎編劇朱利安費羅斯(Julian Fellowes)創作的最新作品，在英國播出時造成收視熱潮，成為二十年來收視最高的英國影集，第一季最後一集的播出更吸引了超過一千一百萬名觀眾收 看，連向來習慣在網路收看的年輕族群也被吸引鎖定電視首播。 費羅斯曾經和已故大導演勞勃阿特曼合作電影【迷霧莊園】，並以該片獲得奧斯卡金像獎最佳原著劇本，他最擅長以精緻的細節掌握時代的氣氛，並且嫻熟英國階級社會中這種樓上樓下兩個世界的生活。 費羅斯年輕時代曾經遠赴洛杉磯想要一圓明星夢，但是平凡的外表讓他到處碰壁，直到他開始寫昨才得以翻身，他喜好安排不同故事同時進行，劇情進展節奏明快，常在意想不到時安排劇情大轉折，緊抓住觀眾的好奇心。 費羅斯的太太原是英國公主的侍女，也是皇室貴族，因為女人至今仍無法繼承頭銜，他太太家族的爵位將會絕跡，這件事也變成費羅斯創造【唐頓莊園】的靈感。今年已被封爵的費羅斯認為已經是21世紀這種老舊的貴族繼承權若不廢除也應該修改，讓女人也能繼承。 收視率 不只創下收視佳績，在2011年艾美獎也大有斬獲，總共囊括六項大獎；包括最佳影集、最佳影集女配角、最佳導演、最佳編劇、最佳攝影及最佳服裝。 瑪姬史密斯是英國國寶級的演員，台灣觀眾最熟悉的應該是她在哈利波特系列電影中飾演的黑髮女巫麥教授；霍格華茲魔法學校的副校長。瑪姬史密斯曾經以【春風不化雨】獲得奧斯卡最佳女主角，後來又以【加州套房】拿到奧斯卡最佳女配角獎。 休邦尼維爾是著名的英國電視演員，公視過去曾經播出過他演出的【曼斯菲爾莊園】 【齊瓦哥醫生】和【丹尼爾的半生緣】，他的電影作品包括【新娘百分百】和【明日帝國】。飾演伯爵夫人的是伊莉莎白麥高文(Elizabeth McGovern)。 製作費 英國電視史上最花錢的影集，平均每小時要花費將盡五千萬台幣拍攝，真正的唐頓莊園是建於1842年的海克利爾城堡(Highclere Castle)，城堡共有150個房間，現在還住著伯爵一家三口，平日也有對外開放，自從影集播出後參訪遊客暴增，成為熱門觀光景點。海克利爾城堡雇用了 80個人維護保養這棟歷史建築和照顧主人的起居。2010年時還曾經傳出音樂劇大師安德魯韋伯打算出價72.5億天價購買海克利爾城堡，後來被伯爵斷然拒 絕，引起一陣風波。