Review: The Favourite
A royal romp featuring the savagery of All About Eve, the machinations of Dangerous Liaisons, and the sumptuousness of Barry Lyndon, The Favourite is by far the most accessible film of Yorgos Lanthimos' career. The Greek-born director has always been a divisive sort - his singular deeply and darkly absurd view of the human species and their graspings are often original, but not to everyone's tastes. The Favourite very much bears all the hallmarks of Lanthimos' work but the vicious skullduggery and matter-of-fact backstabbing are seen through a prism of fun rather than through a glass, darkly.
Set in early 18th century England, the film revolves around life in Queen Anne's court, a place where ceilings seem to reach the heavens and where walking the length of a corridor could last an entire day. The surroundings are impossibly ornate, the goings-on running the gamut from the mundane to the debauched to the ridiculous. The court entertains itself with indoor duck races or pelting a naked man with tomatoes when not engaging in schemes, conspiracies, power plays, and winning the favour of their most capricious queen. The queen herself, as embodied by the wonderful Olivia Colman, appears an overgrown child, spoiled and petulant, easily stroked by flattery, but subject to dark and dangerous moods. She seems a figure prime for ridicule - she fusses over 17 pet rabbits - but there's an inexorable sadness, a never-to-be filled emptiness within her (those 17 rabbits each represent a child she lost).
Her most trusted confidante and adviser is Sarah Churchill, the Duchess of Marlborough (Rachel Weisz), a childhood friend who also happens to be her lover. In many ways, Sarah is the de facto ruler, guiding the queen this way and that, keeping her in tow with a curious mix of insult ("You look like a badger," she notes of the queen's makeup) and compassion, but her ambition trumps all. Into this gilded cage of vipers enters Abigail (Emma Stone), a cousin of Sarah's who has fallen on hard times and has been employed to be one of the court's servants. Abigail may seem an innocent, but she has a survivor's cunning and resourcefulness, first navigating herself to a better position by finding a poultice that soothes the queen's gout, and then ingratiating herself into the queen's company and, very soon, into her bed.
Lanthimos captures the shenanigans with a mordant and idiosyncratic eye, employing wide-angle compositions, dollies, and whip pans that emphasise the hysteria and instability of life at court. The score is a compelling melange of pieces from classical composers such as Vivaldi and Handel to more modernist and experimental composers like Luc Ferrari and Anna Meredith. The production design by Fiona Crombie is nothing short of breathtaking as are the costumes by the always amazing Sandy Powell.
The trio of leading actresses are nothing short of spectacular as women who necessarily have to turn one another either to maintain power or to scramble for a better position in a male-dominated world. Stone and Weisz play off one another beautifully - they're really two sides of the same coin, and would make for powerful allies if they weren't busy taking each other down. Colman, though, deservedly deserves all the plaudits she is sure to receive for her role as Queen Anne. Colman has been a beloved fixture primarily in English film and television for quite some time now, and it is hugely heartening to see a performer of her immense and versatile talents finally getting long overdue universal recognition, which is sure to increase even further with the latest season of The Crown, where she takes over the role of Queen Elizabeth from Claire Foy. As Queen Anne, she is an absolute joy to behold and she creates a figure that is equal parts repellent and sympathetic that, in lesser hands, could have been a mere buffoon. A star is well and truly born.
The Favourite
Directed by: Yorgos Lanthimos
Written by: Deborah Davis, Tony McNamara
Starring: Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz, Emma Stone, Nicholas Hoult, Joe Alwyn, Mark Gatiss
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