Logan Sork Film Reviews
The Favourite
Every once in a while, a movie comes along and I’m not entirely sure what to think of it. Is it a clever satire of political leaders with some great comedy or is it just trying too hard to be artsy, resulting in something that feels more pretentious than intelligent? When it comes to The Favourite, I think that both of these opinions fit the film very well. Yes, there are a couple of other moments in which the film tries too hard and forgets about important elements like story and having actual meaning behind some moments. Thankfully however, The Favourite also has it’s off-beat personality and great performances to keep the film from drifting too far into pretentious territory.
The Favourite is directed by Yorgos Lanthimos and is loosely based on the reign of Queen Anne during early 18th century England. The film sees a deteriorating Queen Anne (Olivia Coleman) struggle with personal health and mental issues as she assisted by Lady Sarah (Rachel Weisz) with the everyday duties of being Queen. Their close relationship is interrupted when Lady Sarah’s cousin Abigail (Emma Stone), a disgraced lady who is now a lower-class citizen, comes to work for the queen as a maid. Being charmed by Abigail, Lady Sarah promotes her to a higher position to work with the queen more closely. Seeing an opportunity to become a lady once more, Abigail begins to manipulate the queen in order to gain her favor, much to the dismay of Lady Sarah, leading to series of escalating battles between the two women to see who will emerge as the queen’s personal favorite.
This film is a truly one of a kind experience, as director Yogros Lanthimos takes what is usually a plot of a serious period drama and adds his own offbeat comedy antics to the story. While this may be off-putting to some, it allows the film to stand out from other period films of a similar aesthetic appearance. The film offers plenty of fantastic scenes in which our two leads squabble with each other over the queen, who herself is facing her own challenges, allowing for some fantastic off-beat comedic moments. The comedy in this film is so odd and strange that it can’t help but be charming. The audience hs no way of knowing how a scene will unfold, and it is this unpredictability that keeps the film afloat.
The performances are also excellent across the board. Emma Stone is always fantastic, but it nice to see her play a more manipulative and conniving character than she usully plays, proving she does have a fantastic acting range. Rachel Weisz also brings her best to her role. Her character is blunter than the other eccentric characters in the film, but Weisz still manages to bring her own unique charm to the role. While the two leads are great, it is Olivia Colman as Queen Anne who steals every scene she’s in. while the actress conveys a charming offbeat persona, which makes for some great laughs throughout, she also brings a more nuanced performance during the more dramatic moments of the film. This range transforms an otherwise flat character into a more rounded character, a testament to Colman’s excellent performance.
What keeps The Favourite from reaching true cinematic excellence is that while it does have some great moments of comedy and drama, the film tries to overcomplicate things. It introduces this plot and characters revolving around a war that England was fighting and it wasn’t handled very well. The film would have been I proved had the subplot been expanded upon or just dropped all together. There are also some choices made in the film that are clearly intended to shock the audiences, but there seems to be no meaningful reason behind it. I’m all for shock value, but if there is no substance behind it then it becomes nothing more than a gimmick used to shock the audience.
In the end, The Favourite is a very odd film that makes up for it’s narrative faults by using extremely odd situations and characters for comedic purposes, making for a truly memorable film. These elments are elevated by some fantastic performances, allowing for the film to stand out from the otherwise flat costume period genre. This is a movie where you truly need to watch it in order to have an opinion on it. Some will call it a masterpiece, others will call it pretentious. In my opinion, it’s a little bit of both, and I for one am happy with it.
7/10