Best Pictures #51:
2018 (91st) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee
“Favour is a breeze that shifts direction all the time.”
At first glance The
Favourite might seem to be just another British costume drama but this very
R-rated story about the private relationships of Queen Anne absolutely subverts
genre expectations. Everything from the stylistic choices to the characters make
this a darkly comedic, vulgar, and wonderfully outrageous film. This is one of
my favorite films of 2018. It is so totally engrossing with such memorable characters
and scenes (especially an elaborate and ludicrous dance) that I had to see it
twice.
Queen Anne ruled England from 1702 to 1714. The highlight of her reign was overseeing the
union of England and Scotland in 1707 (creating the kingdom of Great Britain),
something no previous English king had managed to achieve. This film focuses
not so much on history but speculates on her personal relationships. Her closest friend
since childhood, Lady Sarah Marlborough (Rachel Weisz), acts as Anne’s caregiver,
companion, adviser, and lover. She even runs the country for Anne. Lady Sarah’s
status is challenged when her cousin, Abigail (Emma Stone), begins to work her
way into the Queen’s favor.
Anne may have had a royal life but it was not an easy one. She suffered through 17 miscarriages, still births, and untimely
infant deaths, the death of her husband, and many physical ailments. She was
the last monarch of the House of Stuart and only 49 when she died. Olivia Colman
wonderfully portrays Queen Anne as a fragile, wounded soul searching for small
moments of happiness, and also capable of acting like a spoiled child
or a mad monarch at any given moment. Though Anne is more of a supporting
character, Colman has picked up an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. She’s so
good I can’t complain about her being in the wrong category.
Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone are really the leads but they have
each been nominated in the Supporting Actress category. Each actress gives the best
performance of her career, though each already has an Oscar for a movie and
performance I didn’t particularly care for (Emma Stone-La La Land) and a movie and performance I keep forgetting exists
(Rachel Weisz-The Constant Gardener). Lady Sarah and Abigail offer Anne different
kinds of love: Lady Sarah tells Anne the truth even if it is harsh and
unpleasant, Abigail always flatters Anne. Weisz has no problem going from loving
and sweet to stern and even cruel. She delivers crude, acerbic insults
with deft ease. Weisz is also quite comfortable and easily believable as an intelligent,
capable woman in power—using that power often and effectively—controlling and
besting her male political counterparts. Both Weisz’s Lady Sarah and Stone’s Abigail manipulate Queen Anne for their own gain, but Abigail is the more insidious of the pair. Emma Stone has never had a role like this
before. Her character is clever, funny, and charming, and also devious,
selfish, and quite unlikable. Stone does a great job handling all the
different facets Abigail.
Director Yorgos Lanthimos and cinematographer Robbie Ryan make frequent use of fish-eye lens and canted
angles to keep the audience off balance. They use slow motion for
particular moments and holds on close ups of faces when the instinct of any
other period movie would be to show as much as possible. The costumes by Sandy
Powell look fresh and unique and not just like the costumes we see on a regular basis in
period pieces. Lady Sarah, as a woman in power, is an unconventional character
for her time and she has unconventional costumes to match. Her
shooting outfit, which includes a hat and trousers, is the most memorable
costume in the movie. Even the costumes for the men have interesting
flourishes. Big, long crazy wigs were very in style. The foppish opposition
party, led by Nicholas Hoult, even powder their faces. “A man must make himself
look pretty,” he says.
Yorgos Lanthimos's previous films include the bizarre Dogtooth and the love it or hate it The Lobster (I hated it). This is easily his most mainstream movie, which is saying something since The Favourite might be the most unconventional period movie since Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette. Unlike his previous films, Lanthimos did not pen the screenplay (Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara wrote The Favourite's Oscar nominated original screenplay); this might be why the material is palatable. There is just the right blend of humor and melancholy in The Favourite, but as the film goes on it
moves into dour territory in the third act. It is as if Lanthimos couldn't let a whole film go by without injecting some of his dour, bleak sensibility. Still, I
very much recommend The Favourite for
its fresh take on an established genre and the brilliant performances by
Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz, and Emma Stone. Even as they are being outrageous
and vindictive, these people are a delight to watch.
Nominees: Ceci Dempsey, Ed Guiney, Lee Magiday and Yorgos
Lanthimos, producers
Director: Yorgos Lanithos
Screenplay: Deborah Davis, Tony McNamara
Cast: Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz, Emma Stone
Production Companies: Scarlet Films, Element Pictures, Arcana,
Film4 Productions, Waypoint Entertainment
Distributor: Fox Searchlight Pictures
Release Date: November 23rd, 2018
Total Nominations: 10, including Best Picture
Other Nominations: Actress-Olivia Colman; Supporting
Actress-Rachel Weisz; Supporting Actress-Emma Stone; Director-Yorgos Lanthimos;
Original Screenplay- Deborah Davis; Tony McNamara; Cinematography-Robbie Ryan; Editing-Yorgos
Mavropsaridis; Production Design-Fiona Crombie, Alice Felton; Costume Design-Sandy
Powell
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