I have to admit that I have never been a fan of the Royal Family. It’s not that I feel like the current Monarchy is made of people of poor character; I just have no interest. The recent wedding was not a big deal for me, and missing all of its festivities did not affect me in any way. However, I am fascinated by the history of Great Britain’s royals, as I am a bit of a history buff, so when I heard about director Yorgos Lanthimos’ “The Favourite,” I was interested.
In this film that takes place in the Eighteenth Century, Olivia Colman (The Crown) plays Queen Anne, who is having issues both mentally and physically, so she works with her top aide in Lady Sara (Rachel Weisz). One day, Sara’s cousin, Abigail (Emma Stone) shows up after her family has lost its influence due to actions by her father and is looking for a job. She ends up working herself into favor with queen and into competition with Sara for the favor of Anne.
There is some strange use of fish-eye style cameras that I felt was unnecessary and bothered me, but outside of that I found the film visually very nicely done. Being a guy that is a stickler for the historic accuracy of a film, “The Favourite” is one of the best in this category that I have ever seen. The scenes shot at night were great, whether out in the courtyard or walking through the halls of the palace to the point where it did not seem that any other light was used for them. The three leads work very well together, and there is a possibility that there will be some recognition for them in the new year (but I personally wouldn’t).
Without using a pun here, this is a dark film, that although has a basis in true events, the only way I can describe it is… weird. With the main three characters acting out the saying “four cans short of a six pack,” this film tries to push boundaries on every level and it’s oversexualized and shock value content ruined it for me. It also feels very long for two hours with an ending I found very confusing, and given the high hopes I had for it made it fall very short of those expectations. This is a much different film from what I saw in it’s trailers, so be prepared for that.
I also did not like the score at all. I found it annoying me at times, and some of the sounds used were nothing short of strange. I will say this: the only thing that keeps this film from getting the big “no” from me is how accurate it is visually. However, this will get the newly crowned “cricket chirp,” as it is barely above the dreaded “no” ranking.