An 18th-century period piece from Yorgos Lanthimos. Curiosity alone should get you through the door, but it’s the biting wit and wonderful performances that will keep you in your seat. Whatever your stance on the odd and often acerbic filmography of Lanthimos, The Favourite is a worthwhile effort. It has an odd brand of humor and an even odder presentation, but it all comes together in a way that’s nearly irresistible. Its characters are mean, and mean to each other, but the film isn’t necessarily a cruel one. There is cruelty, of course, but the director (along with writers Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara) balance it with an intelligence that would have us believe it’s nothing short of completely natural for everyone to be acting in such a way.
If accolades are to be given, though, the cast should be first in line. The three leads – Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz, and Emma Stone – are on top of their game. It’s 1708 and Queen Anne (Colman) is trying to figure out what to do about England’s war with France. Her aid, Lady Sara Churchill, the Duchess of Marlborough (Weisz), holds incredible influence over her, with whispers that she is the real power in England. Enter the cunning Abigail (Stone), Sara’s destitute cousin who’s looking for work. Through clever manipulations, Abigail begins to draw the Queen’s favor, creating a deep rivalry between her and Sara. As they jockey for position, Queen Anne revels in the attention.
It’s all very witty and British in the best possible ways. The intelligent application of pettiness is a sight to be seen and is likely to have you laughing out loud despite yourself. What’s great is how everyone takes their lumps in stride, holding back visible anger in the interest of not appearing to have been bested. All involved bide their time patiently. In the end, it might be that no one wins anyway and that they’ve all been had.
To achieve this weird tale of English backstabbing nobility, Lanthimos utilizes some rather odd angles and camera movements. At times, disorienting fish-eye lenses are used together with nearly full 360-degree fast pans of large rooms. It’s off-putting, but not in a bad way. It gives one the sense of being on a carnival ride like the tilt-a-whirl – with the world spinning by out of your control. And like the carnival, these unusual choices give the whole thing a sense of the absurd. It’s almost cartoonish in some of the more exaggerated moments but keeps you well invested in each scene. Add to this the hair and makeup of the period, and we’re very close to the land of caricature. It’s a vicious combination that comes together just right, producing a near-hallucinatory experience that’s part beautiful dream and part surreal nightmare.
For all the shady deals and disloyalty, The Favourite is still Lanthimos’s most human film to date. If you were to combine all three characters into one, you might come away with a single decent human being. For Lanthimos, that’s saying something. I’m not very familiar with the history behind the story, but all three women did exist. It seems the bones of the story are mostly true, which makes The Favourite even more fascinating. History is an ugly place.
James is a writer, skateboarder, record collector, wrestling nerd, and tabletop gamer living with his family in Asheville, North Carolina. He is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association, the North Carolina Film Critics Association, and contributes to The Daily Orca, Razorcake Magazine, Mountain Xpress, and Asheville Movies.