The Favourite
Directed By: Yorgos Lanthimos
Grade: B
I wanted to see The Favourite, ever since viewing the trailer, mainly for the three female leads and boy they did not disappoint! Unfortunately I didn’t love the movie as much as the performances but its definitely an interesting film.
We are immediately made to feel for Abigail (Emma Stone)- her family fallen her father lost her to a man in a game and even when we first see her stuffed into a carriage she’s being assaulted by a guy masturbating who then grabs her ass as she’s exiting the carriage. The maids abuse her horribly and Sarah, her own cousin, is less than kind.
Meanwhile the exceedingly powerful Lady Marlborough (Rachel Weisz) whose a childhood friend of Queen Anne’s is brutal to the Queen, treats other people at court like dirt and moves to manipulate Anne into breaking the backs of the English to fund the war her husband happens to be leading.
It’s hard to like the rich and powerful Sarah when her reaction to people are starving to death is well, at least the French aren’t killing them in their beds.
As the sweet and trusting Abigail starts to take the lessons of the court and the world to heart and vie for Anne’s favor (even shocking herself by how far she’ll go) thoughts and positions will shift. I did believe by the end that Sarah truly cared for even loved Anne but power corrupts even love and friendship.
Casting here was on-point for all three women. Anne was perhaps hardest to like because she’s really just that thing they’re fighting over. She’s in pain and poor health. You get fleeting moments that she wants to be Queen- a good loved Queen- but she’s also more than happy letting people make her decisions for her.
It’s a surprisingly physical role and she plays it without any vanity. I couldn’t help but think having Emma Stone blonde for this role was perfect. She has one of those faces the big blue eyes and the perfect ringlets have this sort of sunshine innocence that baits Anne but she can also turn on a dime and do steely and cruel.
Meanwhile Sarah starts off cold and formal but as her life starts to unravel the hair comes down, the face is literally scared and we begin to see cracks of in the shell of hardness.
And Anne becomes the broken doll in their back and forth. Nicholas Hoult has some nice moments as a powerful member of Parliament vying to stop the war or at least take out Sarah.
Problems? I don’t need historical accuracy but they could have been a little kinder to Anne- who by many accounts was a good (or at least) very involved Queen. The dance was ridiculous and I agreed with Anne when she started screaming to leave. Joe Alwyn didn’t have much to do which is good because he seems perfect for a Hallmark Christmas movie future and I didn’t like the last scene of the film. They could have at least shortened it considerably. Still has the same effect people.
Recommend: 50/50Â This is a hard one to recommend because it does have such odd moments. I wouldn’t say you have to see it in theaters but if you’re interested in the performances or likely Oscar contenders this is looking like a big one.
Emma Stone does look like she’d be good in this, and the sets and general look (at least judging from that one pic) look great too. Nicholas Hoult is in this huh? Isn’t he the Fury Road dude?
Glad this was mostly pretty good.
Yeah, he was Nux. He’s very good in this!
I think we had similar experiences with this movie – I’m still not sure how I feel about it. The performances were brilliant and the humour witty, but I’ve always struggled with period pieces.
Nicholas Hoult was my highlight for sure – he was hilarious!
Nicholas Hoult is such an underrated actor. At least in the states not sure about other places obviously 🙂 He always does really good work though!
I really like Emma Stone but will probably wait for this one once it’s on DVD or even on Netflix as period pieces are a bit of a hit or miss for me, usually more misses than hits these days. Great review! 🙂
Yeah- my sister in law loves period pieces but she still found it odd. She liked it but I’d definitely wait if it’s not something your big on anyway 🙂
Ah, i saw the trailer for this a few days ago, and really liked it. Don’t often get that with movies 😀
I like Emma Stone though, so probably that’s why 🙂
This one had a really great trailer. But I like all Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz so that’s probably why I went for it 🙂
I liked the movie but the script was kinda bad when it comes to the scheming in the latter part of the movie. Abigail and Sarah started doing really stupid things all of the sudden. The ending was indeed very long and uncomfortable but it’s really Yorgos’ most accessible thing, that dude is…eccentric 🙂
Abigail going off the deep end was a little off for me. You would think she had better self-control at that point.
This is my first watch from the director. Definitely interested in The Lobster now but I can’t bring myself to watch Killing of the Sacred Deer anything remotely medical/hospital related already freaks me out!
ah I thought the performances would be great for this- but it’s a shame it’s not as good a movie as the performances. hahahaa well I look forward to seeing Joe Alwyn in future hallmark films 😉 That sounds fair about it being better if they’d shortened it. Great review!
Oh, I can just imagine Rachel Weisz playing a villainous character very well, she has a dark look to her that would it pretty easy. I’m tempted to watch because I love historical fiction based on real history, but it doesn’t seem like you enjoyed the film altogether. I will probably wait for it to come on Netflix (some years in the future if it does).
They both looked the part really well throughout. I was impressed Rachel Weisz has that dark almost cold beauty and then as her character starts to break down I think the more human element comes out. (Though still obviously beautiful.) And I think it was interesting to dye Stones hair blonde because she starts out with this typical curly-haired bouncy innocent look and gets harder. It was impressive what they did with their faces in that way.
Emma Stone has such a versatile face, perfect for acting. Blonde hair, small round face, snub nose? Perfect to play an innocent character. Although I hear that her natural hair colour is blonde. But she does have those cat eyes which can easily allow her to be bitchy like we saw in Easy A. Really wish we’d get more films like Easy A.