Call it the curse of high expectations. The Favourite came barreling into awards season with an incredible rep amidst a sea of raves. I'm always a sucker for a great 18th century costume pic, so I was excited and raring to go. And while The Favourite exhibits some tremendous filmmaking, I can't say I really enjoyed the experience.
The script by Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara depicts real historical characters - Queen Anne (Olivia Colman), who reigned from 1702-1707, rules England largely from her sickbed. Plagued by gout and poor health, and tormented by a wake of childbirth tragedies, she depends greatly on her friend Lady Sarah (Rachel Weisz) - the Duchess of Marlborough - her closest and most brutally honest confidant, who also wields the most influence over Her Majesty. A two-party Parliamentary system - the Tories and the Whigs - is wrangling for power as the war with the French lurches on.
When circumstances force Sarah's destitute cousin Abigail (Emma Stone) to seek desperate employment as a servant in the Royal household, the Queen quickly becomes fond of Abigail's softer, more flattering persona, which contrasts winningly against Sarah's sharp candor. Jealousies and manipulations ensue.
The cast is superb, with Colman and Weisz turning in hypnotic, authentic-feeling performances. Stone is sensational, too - though her English accent is less than consistent (or convincing) at times. You just can't fault these three, their work is simply fantastic. There's also terrific supporting work from Mark Gatiss and Nicholas Hoult.
Director Yorgos Lanthimos, however, (The Lobster, The Killing of a Sacred Deer) is not at all what I expected. You may have heard that The Favourite is something of a comedy, and it is curiously, morbidly funny at times. But it's definitely a black comedy - as if Merchant Ivory had been possessed by David Lynch. Along with cinematographer Robbie Ryan, Lanthimos uses an assortment of distended fisheye lenses, fluid, roving cameras and natural light to depict life at court as a surreal experience, sucking much of the formality of the regal trappings away, leaving them naked in their antique oddness. The costumes and hairstyles are bold and outrageous. Lanthimos also has no qualms about inserting anachronistic language or behavior and is intent on defying convention. He's definitely a man with a vision, make no mistake.
While I haven't seen The Lobster, after getting through The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Lanthimos is kind of hard to take for me. Suffering seems to be a recurring theme in his work, if not outright cruelty. Characters often seem robbed of their dignity and are forced to endure some kind of humiliating betrayal of their own bodies' independence. It's an uncomfortable pervading motif. I wonder what the point might be, beyond making the audience cringe, especially when it's hard to find a likable character to root for.
But it's an interesting film, and one guaranteed to provoke lots of lively discussion afterward. Just don't expect to feel good when it's all over, in any kind of A Room with a View way. Maybe more of a Dangerous Liaisons with antipsychotics kind of way.
The script by Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara depicts real historical characters - Queen Anne (Olivia Colman), who reigned from 1702-1707, rules England largely from her sickbed. Plagued by gout and poor health, and tormented by a wake of childbirth tragedies, she depends greatly on her friend Lady Sarah (Rachel Weisz) - the Duchess of Marlborough - her closest and most brutally honest confidant, who also wields the most influence over Her Majesty. A two-party Parliamentary system - the Tories and the Whigs - is wrangling for power as the war with the French lurches on.
When circumstances force Sarah's destitute cousin Abigail (Emma Stone) to seek desperate employment as a servant in the Royal household, the Queen quickly becomes fond of Abigail's softer, more flattering persona, which contrasts winningly against Sarah's sharp candor. Jealousies and manipulations ensue.
The cast is superb, with Colman and Weisz turning in hypnotic, authentic-feeling performances. Stone is sensational, too - though her English accent is less than consistent (or convincing) at times. You just can't fault these three, their work is simply fantastic. There's also terrific supporting work from Mark Gatiss and Nicholas Hoult.
Director Yorgos Lanthimos, however, (The Lobster, The Killing of a Sacred Deer) is not at all what I expected. You may have heard that The Favourite is something of a comedy, and it is curiously, morbidly funny at times. But it's definitely a black comedy - as if Merchant Ivory had been possessed by David Lynch. Along with cinematographer Robbie Ryan, Lanthimos uses an assortment of distended fisheye lenses, fluid, roving cameras and natural light to depict life at court as a surreal experience, sucking much of the formality of the regal trappings away, leaving them naked in their antique oddness. The costumes and hairstyles are bold and outrageous. Lanthimos also has no qualms about inserting anachronistic language or behavior and is intent on defying convention. He's definitely a man with a vision, make no mistake.
While I haven't seen The Lobster, after getting through The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Lanthimos is kind of hard to take for me. Suffering seems to be a recurring theme in his work, if not outright cruelty. Characters often seem robbed of their dignity and are forced to endure some kind of humiliating betrayal of their own bodies' independence. It's an uncomfortable pervading motif. I wonder what the point might be, beyond making the audience cringe, especially when it's hard to find a likable character to root for.
But it's an interesting film, and one guaranteed to provoke lots of lively discussion afterward. Just don't expect to feel good when it's all over, in any kind of A Room with a View way. Maybe more of a Dangerous Liaisons with antipsychotics kind of way.
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