The Favourite. The Greek Director Yorgos Lanthimos has won many nominations and prizes at Cannes and Venice and at the Oscars for The Lobster, Killing of a Sacred Deerand, hugely, forThe Favourite. These three films have also, however, divided audiences. When I saw The Favouritein London I loved it, but my companion hated it. It is certainly unlike any other period costume movie I have ever seen, taken from a script written by feature length film newcomers Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara. It famously stars Olivia Coleman, the Oscar Winner among eleven other nominations for the film, including Best Supporting Performaces for her co-stars Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone, Best Original Screenplay, Best Motion Picture of the Year and Best Production Design, Costume Design, Directing and Editing.
So what is all the (divisive) fuss about? The film is set during the early 18thcentury War of the Spanish Succession, when England was ruled by the widowed Queen Anne. The Queen’s physical and emotional wellbeing is fragile and she depends on her long term friend, Lady Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough (Rachel Weisz) – wife of John, Captain General (a very effective Chief of the General Staff.) There is political opposition to the ongoing cost of the war, but Sarah effectively runs the Court and sets the Queen’s policies. Then Abigail (Emma Stone) arrives, working as a maid but looking for advancement. The film follows what swiftly becomes a love triangle between the three women, with Sarah using her brains, long term friendship and Anne’s dependency on her, and Abigail using her sexuality. The plot follows the various personal and political intrigues with biting wit – and very rude language.
I know some people dislike this latter aspect, not being inclined to believe that royalty and aristocracy would ever use such langua ge. It is not at all decorous, but I have no reason to doubt it probability. One aspect of the so called ‘upper classes’ is that in the main they do not give a **** about what anyone else thinks. I remember similar outrage at the scatological language used by Thomas More in Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall, but it is amply documented by his own letters and the contemporary accounts of others. More as not at all as portrayed in ‘A Man For All Seasons’,it seems, and Martin Luther also used similar language. Times and cultures change, and it is anachronistic to judge the past by our contemporary mores. None the less some find it difficult – and I found it occasionally shocking, but then I don’t really mind being shocked.
And what I loved about the film was its wit, passion and compassion. Olivia Coleman, as the much bereaved Queen (she had not only lost her husband, but all 17 of her children) is truly pathetic. She is petty, vindictive, depressed and desperate for love – even if it is from the host of rabbits she keeps in her quarters. I did not like anything about her, but I was very moved by her. The great film critic Roger Ebert said that ‘movies are empathy machines’, and Olivia Coleman’s deeply rooted performance tests and proves the point. She is a deserved Oscar winner.
The rest of the cast, including Mark Gatiss and Nicolas Hoult, provide great support and the cinematography by Robbie Ryan (Slow West) and Lanthimos’s usual editor, Yorgos Mavropsaridis, provide visuals that can be sumptuous (I suspect no use of artificial indoor lighting – a la the BBC’sWolf Hall) and disturbing (the use of some rather strange lenses).
So, you pay your money and you take your pick. Or you take your pick and don’t pay your money. It is only, ever, up to you.
