The Favourite - Review
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Cast: Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz, Emma Stone, Nicholas Hoult, Joe Alwyn
Following the international successes of 2015's The Lobster and 2017's The Killing of a Sacred Deer, visionary director Yorgos Lanthimos provides us with another absurd and erudite feature, The Favourite, a scheming period comedy-drama.
In the early 18th century, Queen Anne (Colman) occupies the throne. Due to her mental fragility, ill-health and political ignorance, Anne's close friend Lady Sarah (Weisz) governs the country and tends to her every whim. When a new servant, Abigail (Stone), arrives and is taken under Sarah's wing, she capitalises on her increasing proximity to the Queen to try and return to her aristocratic roots.
In part due to its impressive cast, The Favourite is director Lanthimos's most mainstream and audience-accessible of all his work to date without sacrificing any sense of artistry or his auteurism. The film possesses the same other-worldly cadence to every character's speech, off-beat humour and peculiarly crafted microcosm. This is the first of Lanthimos's films that he didn't co-write, but The Favourite and its script is completely within the director's realm and repertoire. However, he continually evolves his film-making style and the film is his most aesthetically ambitious effort to date. He and trusted DP Robbie Ryan capture these very lonely characters in large, lavish and expansive locations by utilising fisheye or extremely wide lenses that prove integral in creating a visual language and conveying the ever-changing nature of the palace and its inhabitants.
As aforementioned, Lanthimos has assembled his starriest cast in his career thus far with a trio of formidable female performers leading the charge. Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone craft a fascinatingly riveting and warped dynamic that is constantly shifting, leaving the women on uneven footing (namely Sarah and Abigail) and feeling threatened in regards to their position and influence over the Queen. The two players vying for Anne's favour take very different approaches; Sarah adopts a tough-love tactic as she coaches and assumes control of the Queen's political duties and prevents her melancholy from unsettling the palace. Meanwhile, Abigail showers Anne with praise, adoration and sweet-nothings, relentlessly flattering her in an attempt to elevate her servant status. We may disagree with their behaviour and actions at times, but we completely empathise with their motivations even if it is often at the unfortunate expense of Queen Anne's mental well-being.
Much to our appreciation, The Favourite refuses to put the central female characters on a pedestal and is unflinching in its portrayal of them as bawdy, determined and ferocious in their own respective ways, and the film is enriched as a result. They get to experience a vast spectrum of polarising emotions, ranging from joy to jealously, thereby creating a very fluid film that takes many different forms; it's humour is laced with genuine wit but it is equally bleak and saddening.
Bound to satisfy cinephiles and casual movie-goers alike, The Favourite is a bruising and wickedly funny feature that cements itself as one of the most singularly unique competitors in this year's awards season.
EB
Cast: Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz, Emma Stone, Nicholas Hoult, Joe Alwyn
Following the international successes of 2015's The Lobster and 2017's The Killing of a Sacred Deer, visionary director Yorgos Lanthimos provides us with another absurd and erudite feature, The Favourite, a scheming period comedy-drama.In the early 18th century, Queen Anne (Colman) occupies the throne. Due to her mental fragility, ill-health and political ignorance, Anne's close friend Lady Sarah (Weisz) governs the country and tends to her every whim. When a new servant, Abigail (Stone), arrives and is taken under Sarah's wing, she capitalises on her increasing proximity to the Queen to try and return to her aristocratic roots.
In part due to its impressive cast, The Favourite is director Lanthimos's most mainstream and audience-accessible of all his work to date without sacrificing any sense of artistry or his auteurism. The film possesses the same other-worldly cadence to every character's speech, off-beat humour and peculiarly crafted microcosm. This is the first of Lanthimos's films that he didn't co-write, but The Favourite and its script is completely within the director's realm and repertoire. However, he continually evolves his film-making style and the film is his most aesthetically ambitious effort to date. He and trusted DP Robbie Ryan capture these very lonely characters in large, lavish and expansive locations by utilising fisheye or extremely wide lenses that prove integral in creating a visual language and conveying the ever-changing nature of the palace and its inhabitants.
As aforementioned, Lanthimos has assembled his starriest cast in his career thus far with a trio of formidable female performers leading the charge. Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone craft a fascinatingly riveting and warped dynamic that is constantly shifting, leaving the women on uneven footing (namely Sarah and Abigail) and feeling threatened in regards to their position and influence over the Queen. The two players vying for Anne's favour take very different approaches; Sarah adopts a tough-love tactic as she coaches and assumes control of the Queen's political duties and prevents her melancholy from unsettling the palace. Meanwhile, Abigail showers Anne with praise, adoration and sweet-nothings, relentlessly flattering her in an attempt to elevate her servant status. We may disagree with their behaviour and actions at times, but we completely empathise with their motivations even if it is often at the unfortunate expense of Queen Anne's mental well-being.
Much to our appreciation, The Favourite refuses to put the central female characters on a pedestal and is unflinching in its portrayal of them as bawdy, determined and ferocious in their own respective ways, and the film is enriched as a result. They get to experience a vast spectrum of polarising emotions, ranging from joy to jealously, thereby creating a very fluid film that takes many different forms; it's humour is laced with genuine wit but it is equally bleak and saddening.
Bound to satisfy cinephiles and casual movie-goers alike, The Favourite is a bruising and wickedly funny feature that cements itself as one of the most singularly unique competitors in this year's awards season.
EB
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