The Favourite

The Favourite is a film set in the reign of Queen Anne of Great Britain sometime around the start of the 18th Century. It's directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, the Greek director of Dogtooth and The Lobster, among others, and stars Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz, Emma Stone and Nicholas Hoult. All of these talented bastards hit the back of the net but the writers - Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara - and the cinematographer - Robbie Ryan - are the unsung water-carriers here. The script is crackling, especially the dialogue between Stone's Abigail and Hoult's Harley, a prime example of which below:

Favour is a breeze that shifts direction all the time. Then in a instant you're back sleeping with a bunch of scabrous whores wondering whose finger's in your arse.

But it's not only the dialogue that scores. The pacing of the scenes, unlike many period dramas, snaps along and the action travels nicely around the mansion, making the location a character in itself (Abigail starts out scarred with lye in the scullery, moves to a spartan room of her own and finally to quarters at court). Oh, and there are lashings of the word cunt throughout. Perfectly used each time.

The film looks special too. According to a story on Indiewire, Ryan says they used not only 10mm lenses but also 6mm ones, which noticeably distorted the shots into proper fish-eye, making some scenes feel like a Dandy Warhols music video. And I say that with the best of intentions. This from said interview:

"There's an absurdist thing about that lens that it's kind of almost comical, but it's fantastical as well - it's not totally out of place in the film, which you would never imagine," said Ryan.

The lighting is also pretty amazing, mostly for the fact that they went all Dogme 95 on it and used only natural light. Apparently, the Kodak film 'rounds out the highlights in blown out windows'. There are some scenes which are only candle-lit and this really adds to the grandeur of the mansion location (Hatfield House, Hertfordshire & Hampton Court, Richmond). The music might be the only bum note for me in this film. It's mostly fine but the discordant style went on too long in certain scenes. But that's a minor quibble in a film as fine as this one.

Watching The Favourite (and immediately following it) I was impressed with the style, the humour, the characters but a week or so later I'm thinking more about the queen herself and the intricacies of her personality. The other characters had motivation, certain ambitions, but what was Anne's drive? It's pretty clear that it's all returning to the rabbits. Having to be a leader without necessarily wanting the gig (during wartime no less), losing 17 (!) children, wondering who is a friend and who is a scheming mountebank - all this informs Olivia Colman's performance. I was saying to Merv that I thought Colman wasn't really the lead in this, that it's an equal three-hander but I now think that she's the pivot of the film, regardless of screen time. All the heavy themes - favouritism, loss, desperation, drawing strength from unknown places - are handled by Anne, while the fun stuff is given to Sarah, Abigail, Harley and Godolphin. Duck racing anyone?

See also:

For a thematic equivalent have a look at Joseph L. Mankiewicz's All About Eve (1950) and for more natural light use, check out the first Dogme film, Festen (1998), directed by Thomas Vinterberg.

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