Résumé/Abstract
Cet article cherche à appréhender l’imaginaire historique du Royaume-Uni contemporain à travers le film de l’industrie Merchant Ivory, The Remains of the Day (1993), Gosford Park de Robert Altman (2001) et de la série Downton Abbey de Julian Fellowes (2010–2015). Ces trois productions sont souvent intégrées dans l’heritage drama, un genre assez informel qui désigne un ensemble de films et de séries, majoritairement produits dans les années 1980–1990 sous l’ère thatchérienne, prenant comme objet et comme lieu de l’intrigue les country houses. Mais le véritable critère donnant l’unité au genre est politique : en représentant de façon idéalisée un Royaume-Uni à une période souvent considérée comme un âge d’or pour le pays (du XVIIIe siècle au début du XXe siècle) les productions du genre ont souvent été taxées de conservatisme. À ce titre, la nostalgie semble être le principal moteur de leur récit. Cependant, lorsque l’on s’attarde sur ces fictions et qu’on s’intéresse à la fois à leurs représentations et aux histoires qu’elles racontent, un constat s’impose : l’heritage drama est un genre ambivalent par essence. En effet, la volonté de ces fictions de mettre en récit et en images le mode de vie de l’aristocratie britannique, notamment de la domesticité intrinsèque à ces manoirs de campagne, produit des fictions permettant des appropriations critiques. Ainsi, ces multiples représentations filmiques de la country house – véritable microcosme de la Grande-Bretagne d’avant Seconde Guerre mondiale – offrent des regards divergents sur les rapports sociaux, qu’on ne peut réduire à une simple mélancolie pour une période désormais révolue.
Heritage drama: critical retrotopias? The United Kindgom in search of its past
This article seeks to apprehend the historical imagination of the contemporary UK through the Merchant Ivory industry’s The Remains of the Day (1993), Robert Altman’s Gosford Park (2001) and Julian Fellowes ; Downton Abbey series (2010–2015). These three productions are often lumped together under the umbrella of heritage drama, a rather informal genre that designates a group of films and series, mostly produced in the 1980s-1990s during the Thatcherite era, taking country houses as their subject and plot. But the real criterion giving unity to the genre is political: by idealistically depicting a United Kingdom in a period often considered a golden age for the country (from the 18th to the early 20th century), productions in the genre have often been accused of conservatism. As such, nostalgia seems to be the main driving force behind their narratives. However, when we take a closer look at these fictions and consider both their representations and the stories they tell, one thing becomes clear: heritage drama is an ambivalent genre in essence. Indeed, the desire of these fictions to put into narrative and images the way of life of the British aristocracy, in particular the domesticity intrinsic to these country manors, produces fictions that allow for critical appropriations. In this way, these multiple filmic representations of the country house – a veritable microcosm of pre-Second World War Britain – offer different perspectives on social relationships that can’t be reduced to a simple melancholy for a bygone era.
Heritage drama: critical retrotopias? The United Kindgom in search of its past
This article seeks to apprehend the historical imagination of the contemporary UK through the Merchant Ivory industry’s The Remains of the Day (1993), Robert Altman’s Gosford Park (2001) and Julian Fellowes ; Downton Abbey series (2010–2015). These three productions are often lumped together under the umbrella of heritage drama, a rather informal genre that designates a group of films and series, mostly produced in the 1980s-1990s during the Thatcherite era, taking country houses as their subject and plot. But the real criterion giving unity to the genre is political: by idealistically depicting a United Kingdom in a period often considered a golden age for the country (from the 18th to the early 20th century), productions in the genre have often been accused of conservatism. As such, nostalgia seems to be the main driving force behind their narratives. However, when we take a closer look at these fictions and consider both their representations and the stories they tell, one thing becomes clear: heritage drama is an ambivalent genre in essence. Indeed, the desire of these fictions to put into narrative and images the way of life of the British aristocracy, in particular the domesticity intrinsic to these country manors, produces fictions that allow for critical appropriations. In this way, these multiple filmic representations of the country house – a veritable microcosm of pre-Second World War Britain – offer different perspectives on social relationships that can’t be reduced to a simple melancholy for a bygone era.
Citer
Camille Dubourg et Victor Faingnaert, « L’heritage drama, des rétrotopies critiques? Le Royaume-Uni à la recherche de son passé », dans Pagaille, n°3, « Rétrotopies ou l’idéalisation du passé », 2024, p. 62–74. Url : https://revue-pagaille.fr/2024–3‑dubourg-faingnaert/