A Trio of Great Performances Overcome the Flaws

Rating: 8/10 (17 December 2018)

GRADE: B
THIS FILM IS RECOMMENDED.
IN BRIEF: A good, not great, period drama due to the director's excessive style.
JIM'S REVIEW: I must admit that filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos has never been one of my favorite directors. While his films have a visually acuity that is distinctively his own, they lack strong storytelling. His initial premise is always intriguing, but his over-intellectualizing, convoluted plotting, and third act ambiguous endings never satisfy. (The Lobster (2016) told a story of two people forced to find love in a dystopian sci-fi world or they would shape-shift into an animal. The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017) is a film where a father must decide which of his family members he must kill in order to save the others from otherworldly forces.) His trademark use of off-kilter camera angles, music scores that resemble sound installations, and remote characters caught in dire situations are all present in his latest endeavor too. The Favourite is another example that less would have been more.
Yet, this film has become a critical darling and is garnering many accolades. (Even this reviewer's expectations were high, though inaccurate due to a movie trailer that stressed the farcical aspects of the film and portrayed the movie as a comedy...It is not.) But it is an improvement on the director's resume of arty films and at least he is going in a more positive direction by reining in some (not all) of his excessive touches. (Actually, the film would have been quite successful had it been directed as a farce allowing it to be humorous in spirit and cattier in tone. That would have been a far more entertaining moviegoing experience.)
The story goes like this: Lady Abigail (Emma Stone, very good in the role) wants her place in aristocracy. New to the royal court, she is a cunning ambitious wannabe who craves fame, fortune, and, most importantly, power. Her arch rival is a woman just as cruel and demanding, her cousin, Lady Sarah Churchill (a winning Rachel Weisz) who is firmly entrenched in all the decision-making in the House of Stuart. These ladies-in-waitings scheme and battle to gain control of the court. They rely on the manipulation and oneupmanship of a very unstable Queen Anne (a magnificent Olivia Colman), whose physical health and mental issues cloud her judgement.
While the film is flawed, it does have a trio of wonderful performances which enhance the film greatly. The political and sexual intrigue may be the crux of the film but it is these actresses that punch up the drama. They create memorable characters as they deliver their lines with verve and delicious venom. Particularly moving is Ms. Colman who takes this mad queen into areas of unexpected pathos and vulnerability, from a screaming harpy to a tragic solitary figure with all of her mercurial mood swings.
The screenplay by Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara has pithy one-liners and depicts a court on the brink of disarray and corruption. Although I was always involved by the plot and its rich characters, the film allows the intricate hierarchy of the palace household and their quirky and strange behaviors to unfold, albeit too slow-paced for my taste.
Mr. Lanthimos stages his drawing-room set pieces with much skill, filling the screen with gorgeous costuming from Sandy Powell and a stunning production design achieved by Fiona Crombie. Still the director relies on too much theatrics with the overuse of anachronistic fisheye photography and an annoying modern-sounding score with snippets of loud classical music that interferes with all the sumptuous period atmosphere. These overindulgences become a major misstep in a film that held great promise...and again, there is that third act denouncement faux pas once more that undercuts the storytelling.
The Favourite plays like a comedy of ill manners without much comedy. Yet it is technically accomplished filmmaking with much to admire. It also boasts some of the best acting this year. Yet with all of this talent, the film is still in search of a story better told.