‘The Chaperone’ opening April 12 at Cinema Art Theater

“The Chaperone,” an immersive and richly emotional period piece about the youth of early Hollywood movie star Louise Brooks, will open Friday, April 12, at the Rehoboth Beach Film Society’s Cinema Art Theater. Fans of “Downton Abbey” will not want to miss this film, as alumni of the beloved series played vital roles in its creation, particularly writer Julian Fellowes and star Elizabeth McGovern.

Louise Brooks, the 1920s silver screen sensation who never met a rule she didn't break, epitomized the restless, reckless spirit of the Jazz Age. But, just a few years earlier, she was a 15-year-old student in Wichita, Kan., for whom fame and fortune were only dreams. When the opportunity arises for her to go to New York to study with a leading dance troupe, her mother (Victoria Hill) insists there be a chaperone. Norma Carlisle (Elizabeth McGovern), a local society matron who never broke a rule in her life, impulsively volunteers to accompany Louise (Haley Lu Richardson) to New York for the summer. Why does this utterly conventional woman do this? What happens to her when she lands in Manhattan with an unusually rebellious teenager as her ward? And which of the two women is stronger, the uptight wife and mother, or the irrepressible free spirit? It's a story full of surprises about who these women really are, and who they eventually become.

Screening times are 2 and 6 p.m., Friday, April 12; 3 and 6 p.m., Saturday, April 13; 2 p.m., Sunday, Monday and Wednesday, April 14, 15 and 17; and 3 and 6 p.m., Thursday, April 18. Admission is $8 for members and $11 for nonmembers. Customers are encouraged to purchase tickets online. If seats are available, tickets can be purchased at the theater starting 30 minutes prior to each screening.

For more information, go to www.rehobothfilm.com, or call 302-645-9095.