The Favourite

Disappointing ⭐👎👎👎👎


I cannot remember the last time I was so disappointed by a film. Lanthimos steals from here, there, and everywhere to create this hideous parody. In particular, from the work of Peter Greenaway which is a big mistake as no one does Greenaway like Greenaway. 

It is visually beautiful, thanks to Fiona Crombie's outstanding sets. Filmed almost entirely within the confines of the royal household  apart from a few external shots. The use of a fish eye lens in order to warp perspective is a welcome and much needed point of interest in what feels like an overly long and tedious film. About an hour in I found myself wondering 'how much longer'? Another hour to be precise.

I am not sure why it was necessary to appropriate real characters from British history in this period pastiche. There is so little fact, that the entire film, characters and all, may as well be fictional. The story leans heavily on the rumour that Queen Anne was a lesbian, which she may have been. She also gave birth 17 times to babies that were mostly stillborn or only lived a very short while. When you realise that the cages of rabbits in the Queens bedroom are named after her dead children, it all becomes uncomfortably sad and rather sordid. 

The film is a farce in which physical and verbal humour excuse a tenuous plot, if you enjoy the humour you may enjoy the film. I found the required element of comedy to be thin on the ground. Rachel Weisz as Lady Sarah Churchill and Emma Stone as Abigail Masham vie for the top spot in Queen Anne's affections, yes, we 'get it', and sadly that is all there is to 'get'. I don't find anything ground breaking or even remotely subversive within the plot or the script. This is a bog standard power struggle between three women. Its old. As is the overly used word cunt which is rendered neither shocking nor amusing. 

It is difficult to feel anything for any of the characters, they are so one dimensional. 
Olivia Colman does give a strong performance as we would expect from an actress of her calibre however, even she cannot make a silk purse out of a pigs ear.

The score is interesting, with more than a nod to Michael Nyman. The costumes, hair and make up are quite superb and go someway to carrying the film, which is definitely not my favourite.