Although they take place in different times and in different societies, there are several similarities between the series. Downton abbey and The Gilded Age, both created by Julian Fellowes. While Downton Abbey recounts the daily life of an aristocratic family, the Crawleys, from 1912 to 1926 in Yorkshire, The Gilded Age depicts different bourgeois families in New York in 1882, in the midst of the period of reconstruction which followed the Civil War and ended at the beginning of the 20th century.and century.
At the heart of both series, Fellowes touches more than explores class rivalries, conventional marriages, the status of women and social inequalities. On the side of the female characters, who dominate this cruel universe where the old fortunes turn their noses up at the new rich, there are several similarities with the Crawley family.
The central character of this sumptuous 10-episode series, Marian Brook (Louisa Jacobson, daughter of Meryl Streep), a penniless orphan from rural Pennsylvania taken in by her wealthy New York aunts, the cynical widow Agnes Van Rhijn (Christine Baranski) and the old white goose Ada Brook (Cynthia Nixon), combines several qualities of Lord Grantham’s daughters. We find in her the ambition of Mary, the sensitivity of Edith and the open-mindedness of Sybil.
The dynamic between the young girl and her aunts also evokes the relationship between the three sisters. Thus Agnes shows herself to be as contemptuous as Mary towards those who do not belong to her caste. Like Mary in the place of Edith, Agnes rebuffs her younger daughter Ada, whose suitors have never lived up to family ideals and who lives at the expense of her eldest. To spice up their exchanges, Julian Fellowes reserves the most caustic replies to the flamboyant Christine Baranski, making Agnes as formidable as the Dowager Countess embodied by Lady Maggie Smith. Like Sybil, Marian thrills her aunts with her progressive ideas. Will she go so far as to contract a marriage of love rather than marrying money like any self-respecting girl?
To this trio is added Peggy Scott, a young educated woman from a good family who dreams of being a novelist and whom Agnes hires as a secretary. The problem is that Peggy is a woman of color, as the servants pay lip service to her, not much more evolved than their masters stuck in their strict social conventions, and the friends of the family. Through Marian and Peggy, Julian Fellowes and screenwriter Sonja Warfield will introduce the viewer to the various social classes in order to highlight their shortcomings and, very often, their ridiculousness. As fascinating as this dive is, we regret that it generates little emotion. Could it be the wearing of the corset that makes the interpretation so rigid and icy?
On familiar ground
Echoing Downton Abbey, Tea Gilded Age is essentially a painting of an environment where the dominant class, here the big bourgeoisie of European descent, fights fiercely so as not to be supplanted by the one who made its fortune thanks to the industrial revolution. In this lacy war between the old guard and the new rich, all shots are allowed and the consequences can be fatal. The precious and hypocritical ladies Morris (Katie Finneran) and Fane (Kelli O’Hara) will find out the hard way during this ruthless game of snakes and ladders.
Rather than go to war, shouldn’t they create alliances? To replenish his coffers, hadn’t Lord Grantham married a rich American? Who knows if this will not be the fate of poor Gladys Russell (Taissa Farmiga), treated like a child by her mother who harbors the hope of finding the best for her.
Inspired by the Vanderbilts, proud and ambitious Bertha Russell (Carrie Coon) and her railroad tycoon husband, George (Morgan Spector), cause a stir when they move into their opulent Fifth Avenue mansion. Good society takes a very dim view of this pomp evoking the heyday of Versailles. The more the Russells want to carve out a place for themselves, the more their rivals will do everything to stop them with the help of the powerful Mrs Astor (Donna Murphy), one of the few historical figures that Julian Fellowes brings into the picture for the sake of verisimilitude. .
Other real-life characters making their rounds include Clara Barton (Linda Emond), founder of the American Red Cross, who eats at all the racks, and T. Thomas Fortune (Sullivan Jones), an African-American publisher and journalist. American, who will become Peggy’s mentor. Despite these contributions, we have to admit that with its serial plot, The Gilded Age delivers a watered-down vision of this era when the gaps between classes kept widening, to the detriment of the working class, it goes without saying.
In the staging of this series, captivating despite its air of deja vu, directors Michael Engler and Sally Richardson-Whitfield take advantage of the luxurious sets that they transform into labyrinths, where masters and valets plot against each other in order to to climb the ladder in this society where money is king and where young people are a bargaining chip. If you are fascinated by the golden age and the series leaves you hungry, we cannot recommend you enough to see, if you haven’t already done so, the masterful adaptation of Edith Wharton’s novel The age of innocenceby Martin Scorsese.