Want to watch something a bit different; a film you wouldn’t normally watch, then this film could be for you!!
The Favourite is set in the 18th Century and tells the story of Queen Anne who developed gout and is depressed through previous events in her life and lets her close friend Lady Sarah govern the country. When a new servant, Abigail, arrives at the palace she charms the ill Queen which threatens Sarah's place at the royal court. The Director Yorgos Lanthimos is known for making boundary-pushing, unique films and The Favourite lives up to this reputation of Lanthimos.
Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone star as the main characters in this film; all trying to gain power during the War of Spanish Succession. Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) has a close relationship with Sarah (Rachel Weisz), they even have pet names for each other. Sarah was "Mrs Freeman" and Queen Anne was "Mrs Morley".
A lot of this film is accurate, and some is fictional; the rabbits are fictional, Queen Anne didn’t have 17 rabbits that were stand-ins for her children, but Queen Anne was pregnant 17 times as she unfortunately lost all her children and none of them reach adulthood. The relationship between the Queen and Sarah was all true as Sarah was very blunt when she spoke to the Queen and was in charge of some of the Queen's duties. It is believed the Sarah used her relationship with the Queen for personal gain.
Parts of this film are like watching an episode of Blackadder with its comedy. Unusual camera shots are used which makes this film unusual to watch as you are watching all the action unfold from a corner of a room instead of close up to the action; however, at the heart of this film is a love triangle.
Colman initially is a comedic character with her unusual characteristics and behaviour as it comes across as childlike. As the film goes on and we learn more about the Queen, the reason behind having 17 rabbits makes Colman’s performance special. As a result, this must have been a difficult character to understand and portray but Colman does it really well; no wonder she won an award for her character in this film. Weisz portrayal of Sarah is very blunt and head-strong and the opposite of the Queen which is great to watch as Sarah is in control of the relationship, even though the Queen has more power, she’s just too ill to know how to use it. Abigail starts off a character you enjoy watching and you feel bad for her as she is trying to survive but once she becomes the Queen’s favourite, the character completely changes as she gets what she wants which is power. This film is a struggle for power and keeping the power the gain, but it shows how easily power can get taken away.
All three actresses are great in this film and are performing to the highest level. This film is emotional at times and then humorous at other times. This film doesn’t have the ending you would expect but it is interesting to watch as there are political mind games, secret affairs, duck racing and lots of rabbits - what's not to enjoy about this film, which is different to what you usually watch but defiantly worth a watch.
