The Favourite
Original post date: 3 January 2019
Rating: ✭✭✰✰
I was a bit surprised to hear Olivia Colman, in interviews about this film, say she knew nothing about Queen Anne before taking the title role and to hear her interviewers express similar ignorance. Really? Am I the only one who still remembers the 1969 BBC TV series (airing in 1971 in the US on PBS) The First Churchills? It was the consolation offered up to anglophile Yanks undergoing withdrawal from The Forsyte Saga. It starred John Neville and Susan Hampshire as the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough and Margaret Tyzack as Princess (later Queen) Anne. Abigail Hill was played by Jill Balcon, who happened to be the mother of a youngster named Daniel Day-Lewis. Needless to say, the Beeb’s history-filled, 12-part treatment was nowhere near as frothy as this flick written by Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara and directed by the absurdity-loving Greek Yorgos Lanthimos, who previously gave us Dogtooth, The Lobster and The Killing of a Sacred Deer. This does not exactly have the reality-bending quality of his earlier work, but it makes no pretense of a history lesson either. Strangely, for example, there is no mention of Prince George of Denmark, Anne’s husband who died midway through her 12-year reign and to whom she was very devoted and whose demise devastated her. This is an entertainingly cartoonish treatment of a famous rivalry that at times feels nearly like an extended Blackadder episode. Three actors are at the top of their game. The film may do Queen Anne no favors, but it gives Colman the chance to earn our sympathy in a masterful performance. As Lady Marlborough, Rachel Weisz owns the screen with all the imperiousness that Anne lacks. As Abigail, Emma Stone is by turns long-suffering, cunning and finally viper-like. Other than amusing us, though, it is hard to know what the movie is at. Is it significant that the Marlboroughs are the forebears of Winston Churchill? Is there some intended political parallel intended for our own times with the political infighting, foreign wars and lack of seriousness among political leaders? Maybe the whole point is that a hereditary monarchy is not a great idea? Anyway, some may have been fearing that the consciousness-raising of the #MeToo movement would result in politically-correct artistic self-censorship in films angling for award recognition. This movie suggests they need not worry. The screenplay includes jokes about rape and quite a few uses of the C word. See you at the Golden Globes.
Rating: ✭✭✰✰
I was a bit surprised to hear Olivia Colman, in interviews about this film, say she knew nothing about Queen Anne before taking the title role and to hear her interviewers express similar ignorance. Really? Am I the only one who still remembers the 1969 BBC TV series (airing in 1971 in the US on PBS) The First Churchills? It was the consolation offered up to anglophile Yanks undergoing withdrawal from The Forsyte Saga. It starred John Neville and Susan Hampshire as the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough and Margaret Tyzack as Princess (later Queen) Anne. Abigail Hill was played by Jill Balcon, who happened to be the mother of a youngster named Daniel Day-Lewis. Needless to say, the Beeb’s history-filled, 12-part treatment was nowhere near as frothy as this flick written by Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara and directed by the absurdity-loving Greek Yorgos Lanthimos, who previously gave us Dogtooth, The Lobster and The Killing of a Sacred Deer. This does not exactly have the reality-bending quality of his earlier work, but it makes no pretense of a history lesson either. Strangely, for example, there is no mention of Prince George of Denmark, Anne’s husband who died midway through her 12-year reign and to whom she was very devoted and whose demise devastated her. This is an entertainingly cartoonish treatment of a famous rivalry that at times feels nearly like an extended Blackadder episode. Three actors are at the top of their game. The film may do Queen Anne no favors, but it gives Colman the chance to earn our sympathy in a masterful performance. As Lady Marlborough, Rachel Weisz owns the screen with all the imperiousness that Anne lacks. As Abigail, Emma Stone is by turns long-suffering, cunning and finally viper-like. Other than amusing us, though, it is hard to know what the movie is at. Is it significant that the Marlboroughs are the forebears of Winston Churchill? Is there some intended political parallel intended for our own times with the political infighting, foreign wars and lack of seriousness among political leaders? Maybe the whole point is that a hereditary monarchy is not a great idea? Anyway, some may have been fearing that the consciousness-raising of the #MeToo movement would result in politically-correct artistic self-censorship in films angling for award recognition. This movie suggests they need not worry. The screenplay includes jokes about rape and quite a few uses of the C word. See you at the Golden Globes.
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